


The Final Countdown

by asingerofsongs, MayGlenn



Series: Stars and Skies [19]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Anal Sex, Asexual Rey (Star Wars), Badass Finn, Bechdel Test Pass, Blowing Shit Up, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Ewoks, F/F, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Final Battle, First Time, Fluff and Smut, Force Tree, Gen, Gleeful Misandry, Goodbyes, Hurt!Poe, Hurt/Comfort, I'm In Charge Now Phasma, Injury Recovery, Kinda, Luke and Leia Get Drunk On Their Birthday, M/M, Mean Girls References, Meditation, Meet the Family, Minor Character Death, Nonbinary Character, Oral Fixation, Oral Sex, Past Sexual Assault, Pilots Being Pilots, Presumed Dead But Not Actually Dead, Rescuing Baby Stormtroopers, Return of the Jedi Jokes, Rough Sex, Safe Sane and Consensual, Sex Pollen, Spies & Secret Agents, Stormtrooper Culture, Stormtrooper Rebellion, Temporary Character Death, That's Not How The Force Works, The First Order Is Shitty, The Man From UNCLE Chapter You Didn't Know You Needed, Therapy, Threats of Dubcon, Yavin 4, dance party, parenting, the calm before the storm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-09-22 08:10:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 81,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9595223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asingerofsongs/pseuds/asingerofsongs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayGlenn/pseuds/MayGlenn
Summary: "You have to rest up and be at peak capacity in...seventy-nine days, because I have wedding night fantasies that need to be fulfilled," Poe told Finn, squeezing his shoulder. "Speaking of: we have some last-minute wedding details to plan!”"Like how we're going to stop the First Order in two months?" Rey said, intentionally overly-serious, and she and Poe exchanged a glance, and then both looked at Finn and laughed."Yeah, yeah, and what happened to Kylo Ren's head on a plate as a wedding gift, hmm?" Poe accused. “Better get going on that, dear, I hear they need like, a few weeks to set it into a wall mount.”Rey cackled.“You two are disgusting,” Finn sighed. “I don’t know why I love you so much.”...Where our heroes are counting down the days to their wedding day, but they have to take down the First Order before the big day.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seventy-nine days before the wedding.

"FINN. You were stabbed. IN THE BELLY. Less than a week ago! SIT. DOWN," Rey scolded, because Finn was standing shakily, holding onto the bed. He had expected that he would be fine by now, completely recovered—it wasn't like he'd been nearly killed by a lightsaber or impaled himself in an AT-AA crash. But it turned out it wasn't quite that easy.

"I'm _tired_ of being in here," he whined, but he sat back down on the bed.

"Here, hold your kid. Sammy, don't let him up!" Rey said. She handed Sam over and Finn smiled at the boy while he drooled all over himself.

"Hm, did the doctor order resting a child on the wound site?" Poe said as he entered, shifting Sam to Finn's uninjured side. Rey pulled a rude face at him, and he pulled one right back before kissing her, and then kissing Finn. "Anyway, you have to rest up and be at peak capacity in...seventy-nine days, because I have wedding night fantasies that need to be fulfilled," he told Finn, squeezing his shoulder. "Speaking of: we have some last-minute plans to work out!"

"Like how we're going to stop the First Order in two months?" Rey said, intentionally overly-serious, and she and Poe exchanged a glance, and then both looked at Finn and laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, what happened to Kylo Ren's head on a plate as a wedding gift, hmm?" Poe accused. “Better get going on that, I hear they need like, a few weeks to set it into a wall mount.”

Rey cackled.

Finn looked from Rey to Poe. "Are you done?" he asked, and then laughed. "You’re disgusting. I don’t know why I love you so much. Anyway, we have close to _three_ months, and that’s a long time, is all I'm saying. Who knows what'll happen between now and then?" He shifted to give both of them room to sit on the bed with him. "What _actual_ last-minute plans are there?" he asked.

"You see, look at this guy, suddenly he's a Major and goes to Intelligence briefings _I'm_ not even allowed into and he gets all mysterious on us," Poe said, unable to stop teasing his beloved, just so he could kiss the pout off his face. 

"You weren't _not_ allowed in the last one, Poe, you just decided to spend it cooking! For our birthday!" Finn protested in a loud voice. 

Sam, deciding this meant it was screaming time, let forth a high-pitched shriek that had them all wincing.

"Ow. Okay, yeah, fine. Actual plans." Poe sat down, gave Sam his hand to cling to and play with—and, eventually, try to stick in his mouth—and pulled up his datapad. "I have a list."

"I'm actually shocked," Rey said.

"I'm a little turned on," Finn said, grinning.

"Right? Poe being _organized_?" 

"Shut up," Poe said, blushing, and flicked through his list. "Okay. How are we figuring Sam into this? He's a bit small to be a flower-boy, so someone could carry him. I had a hilarious idea where we pin the rings to him and he figures as the ringbearer pillow, but there's a few problems with that, not least of which—"

[That is _my_ job!!] BB-8 hooted, all but surging out of their charging port. [Friend-Sam will only attempt to ingest them! BB-8 is clearly the most trustworthy choice!!!]

"Of course you are, buddy! How else would you show off your paint?" Finn said to the little droid, who whistled and rolled in a small circle. "You're my favorite droid, Bee," he added, because he _loved_ Poe's little droid. He looked down at Sam and then back at Rey and Poe. "So what do we do with Sam?"

"He could be my bouquet," Rey suggested, and then beamed at her own idea. "Aww! A little flower crown for Sammy!"

"No! He should be _Finn's_ bouquet!" Poe exclaimed. "Then _I_ get to have a bouquet, too, and I get to make Snap hold it through the ceremony! Yes, this wedding is getting better all the time!" Poe said, pumping his fist. He loved Temmin Wexley with all his heart, but he loved the stock Snap gave to gender roles much less. "Then you can hand him off to Jess for the ceremony," Poe suggested, “and she’d love that. Okay, I need _pink_ flowers. With, like, glitter..." he mused.

Finn smiled and bounced Sammy on his belly until Rey and Poe glared at him. "What do you think? Want to be my bouquet and let aunt Jess hold you during the wedding?" Sam stuffed his fist thoughtfully in his mouth, which Finn took as a yes.

Poe laughed. "It's settled, then," he said, and went back to his list. "Okay, I'm figuring out transports—I’m so pumped, you guys, you're going to _love_ Yavin!" he exclaimed giddily. They were in the middle of talking table centerpieces when BB-8 chirped a reminder tone to Rey. 

“Oh! Sorry, I have my meeting now,” she explained, standing up and slipping into her shoes.

Poe, who was figuring out how she got his droid to give her reminders, and who wasn’t good at keeping track of his own schedule, much less those of his affianced, knit his brow: “Where are you going?”

“She has her meeting with Timons,” Finn, who _was_ good at keeping everyone’s schedule’s straight, said, taking her hand and squeezing it. “Thank you,” he whispered, kissing her hand.

She beamed down at him. “It’s a pleasure,” she said, leaning down to kiss him, a slow, warm kiss that was interrupted when Sam screamed, either wanting them to stop or wanting a kiss of his own.

“Hey, I want one, too,” Poe pointed out after she had planted a kiss on Sam’s forehead, and waited expectantly.

Rey laughed and gave Poe a kiss, and then she was gone.

Finn looked at Poe. "So I've been thinking—I could really recover on the _Falcon_ or in our room instead of being stuck here," he said. The only reason he was still in medical was because Dr. Kalonia, maybe justifiably so, worried that he would get up to shenanigans if she let him out of her sight. Also, he still needed some hefty antibiotics just to be cautious, since it was an abdomen wound. Finn hated them, because they upset his stomach, but he would gladly promise to keep taking them if she let him leave medical.

But first he had to convince Poe that it was a good idea.

"Hm, I don't knooowww, going against doctor's orders, that doesn't sound like me—when do we leave?" Poe asked, scooping Sam up into his arms as he leaned in for a kiss from Finn. "Come on, kid, if anyone's going to teach you how to misbehave, it better be your fathers," he said, to which Sam cooed and offered his slobbery nubbin in solidarity.

"I thought you might need this," Dr. Kalonia said, standing at the door with a hoverchair, looking way more imposing than a woman of her age and stature had a right to look. "If you wanted to, say, get out of medical _and_ stay there." This sounded strongly like a threat.

"I...was just going to ask you that?" Finn said.

Dr. Kalonia gave him a flat look, because she knew they both knew better than that. "Uh huh. Amateur hour." Kalonia looked between the three of them. "At least one of you has an excuse." Sam murmured softly in Poe's arms, the very picture of innocence.

"Good answer, Finno. Sammo, soften her up," Poe said, handing the baby off to the doctor as he brought the hoverchair over to the bed. He grinned down at Finn. "May I have this dance?" he asked, leaning down to ease his arms under Finn's armpits to help him to his feet.

Finn really hated that he needed Poe's help, but standing required muscles that still protested being used. "Some dance that would be," he grumbled in response, but let Poe help him to the hoverchair.

"Do I need to warn you about strenuous activities or are you going to behave?" Dr. Kalonia asked. Finn offered her a smile. "I'm going to tell BB-8 to keep an eye on you, and I expect you here every day for the next three days for the last of your antibiotics," she said sternly, although the effect was somewhat ruined as she held a babbling Sam on her hip.

Poe helped ease Finn into the chair, and then balked, turning around to place a hand on his hip. " _Madam_ , how dare you insinuate that I would not wait the prescribed amount of time before allowing him to engaging in any strenuous activities! We are _fathers_ now, think of the _children_ —"

Dr. Kalonia rolled her eyes. "Oh, I _am_ thinking of the children," she said, depositing Sam on Finn's lap. 

"Come _on_ , Dr. K, it's been a week already!" Poe said, shifting to whining now. 

"Right, I'm sorry, because you'll have plenty of time for that later if he tears his stitches or develops an infection or—"

"Okay, _fine_ ," Poe grumbled, situating himself behind the hoverchair. "You'll let Rey know we went back to the _Falcon_?"

"I'll let her know. _Don't_ make me regret this." Finn managed a smile that was genuine this time, and nodded.

"Thanks, Dr. K. I'll behave," he said, and gestured the hoverchair backward to bump Poe's shins.

"Stop that, I'm driving. Nothing strenuous," Poe reminded him obnoxiously, and kissed his cheek, waved at his son, and whistled as he guided the hoverchair out of medical. "You wanna swing through mess, or head straight to the _Falcon_?" he asked. "How's our diaper situation?"

"Seems okay," Finn said after a tentative sniff. He used both arms to hold Sammy so he could face out without tipping forward. "But I think I'd rather go to the _Falcon_ , if it's all the same..." The beds in medical were not terribly comfortable, and he really wanted to curl up in the comfy, cozy little space Rey used for their bedroom.

"Great. I think I've got some ration packs we can heat up for dinner. Maybe some...pickles." Poe hated having an empty larder, but there was a war on. People waved as they passed, glad to see Finn up, but mostly glad to see Sam. Sam, for his part, was glad to be processioned around the base, and grinned at everyone around him with his nubbin in his mouth. Nien Nunb stopped them to chatter in Sullustan to Sam, which amused the baby to no end, and Poe smiled. It took them over half an hour to actually make it inside the _Falcon_ in the end. 

"You know, if I'd've thought about it, I would have waited until later before escorting the two most famous people in the Resistance through the base," Poe commented, easing the hoverchair to the bedroom. "Hey, Sammy, wanna come to Papa?" he asked, and Sam happily complied so Finn could get up.

Finn pulled himself up until he could get his legs under him, and then stood and half-stretched. The bed was calling his name, and he made a happy sound as he sat on the edge. "Sammy wins everyone over," he said, "It's because he's hopelessly cute. Just look at him!"

"You know that would be super narcissistic of you if it wasn’t entirely true," Poe said, kissing Sam's chubby cheek. "You all right?" he asked, but Finn had moved himself pretty well on his own, and since BB-8 and Dr. Kalonia weren't here, Poe and Finn as Manly Men could trust Finn to know his own limits, or something. "I was kidding about strenuous activity, but we could watch a show and make out. Maybe work on our awesome _Clone Wars_ novel," he grinned. "What do you want for dinner?"

"Hmmmmm...how about...food?" Finn asked angelically. He had no idea what he wanted to eat, only that he was hungry. "What if we made out first and then ate?" he asked. "And can we snuggle?"

Poe laughed. "Snuggling and making out while holding our baby. My ideal evening." But when Poe slid in beside Finn and kissed him, slow and loving, Sam decided he was in danger of being squished and shrieked loudly.

Finn laughed when Sam shrieked indignantly and kissed his nearly-bald head. "Sammy, my guy, how about you cuddle up here and go to sleep and we'll watch a movie and everything will be perfect?" Finn asked him. He leaned in to kiss Poe softly, scratching gently at Sam's arm in that way that always made him sleepy.

Poe couldn't help but snort. "I can't believe he has that same weakness," he said, smiling helplessly and enthralled with his beautiful son, more so even than with his more beautiful husband. But Finn's lips soon drew his focus again, and Sam yawned and closed his eyes. Poe drew Finn into his arms, so that Sam rested tucked between them. "I love you, Finn," he sighed, cupping the side of his face, and deepening the kiss. "I love you and our gorgeous kid," he hummed, and when Sam fussed again he pulled back. "What do you say I get some us-food, some Sammy-food, and put a holo on. We trade the datapad back and forth to write." He grinned and waggled his eyebrows. "They _were_ just reunited, after all, the pilot and the clone trooper..."

"That sounds wonderful. I'll make sure Sam doesn't run off or throw any wild parties while you’re gone," Finn said of the baby who was sleeping between them. "Should I take my turn?" he asked, and waved the holopad where they were writing their story.

"Oh, is it your turn? Who am I kidding, it's always your turn," Poe teased, and kissed Finn again before he could get mad at him for that. "And _that_ kid," he said, pointing, "is going to be a party _animal_ when he's older. He'll be combing boys and girls of all species out of his hair when he's old enough to date. You know, like, forty-five," he said, rubbing Sam's head fondly. "Be right back." 

Poe ducked into the galley, taking a moment to send Rey a com for whenever she got done with Timons, and nuking some ration packs for them to eat. They also had some veggies that were going bad, so he cut them up to eat fresh dipped in dressing, and grabbed the bag of cookies. "Oh, I brought beer for you to watch me drink," he said when he returned. "You can't drink while you're still on your meds. We also have some yogurt if the antibiotics are messing with you, buddy."

"Ha ha," Finn said as he took the food Poe had brought and arranged it where they could both reach it. "You're very funny, and just for that you owe me a beer when I can have one." He leaned over to give Poe a quick kiss. "Why would yogurt help my stomach?"

Poe shrugged. "Puts good bacteria back in your stomach, or something." He laid set his food aside and traded Finn for an awakened Sam, so he could feed him first. "Hey, buddy, bottle time? You hungry, champ? I bet you are. Yeah," he hummed, feeding Sam his formula. Sam was a good eater generally, and he finished his milk and promptly nodded off again so Poe could lay him in his carrier and eat his own dinner. "Did you write me a reply?" he asked, laying his head on Finn's shoulder.

"Of course I did! See? It's right here," Finn said. He handed the holopad over with its (admittedly short) reply. He set about eating his own food, but only made it several bites in before his stomach grumbled unhappily. He frowned. "You're sure the yogurt won't just make me hurl?" he asked doubtfully. The yogurt didn't seem like it would be especially helpful, since the thick texture bothered him even on a good day (it reminded him too much of the protein paste he ate every day for twenty years of his life).

"I can get you some to try," Poe said, frowning, as Finn had hardly touched his food. "Or whatever sounds good." He set his own dinner aside and slid in close. "If you're not hungry, though, you don't have to force yourself. You can take your time." Then he was up again, fetching yogurt and turning on their show to watch, and somehow before the introductory credits had rolled he had produced a reply for Finn. "Here, something to distract you," he said, offering the datapad and a cup of yogurt.

Finn took a bite of the yogurt and then read and wrote Poe a bit more of their storyresponse. Since his stomach didn't seem any worse, he ate some more of the yogurt and leaned on Poe, watching him read until the show distracted him.

"You want the rest of your dinner?" Poe asked, getting up to warm it up again, since he had written another reply, and laid the datapad on Finn's chest. "Do you want some painkillers?" he asked, squeezing Finn's shoulder and gazing into his eyes. He pressed his lips together and tried not to say something a few times, before finally managing: "Terex is a bastard. I should have killed him. When I first met him."

Finn looked down at his hands quietly for a time before speaking. "He was a bad person," he agreed. "But he was what we expected." He sighed, thinking he'd like those painkillers. "I know I should have been more careful in trusting that one stormtrooper, but I just...I couldn't leave her there just because I didn't have backup. But I'm sorry I wasn't more careful," he said, and turned to bury his face against Poe's chest. They were all safe now—but for how long?

Poe pulled Finn into an embrace that as much as possible didn't stress his healing wound, and took Finn's hand to kiss his palm.

Finn was fiddling with the spinner ring Rey had made for him, but stopped at the brush of lips.

"If every stormtrooper you ever meet ends up betraying you, I know you're still going to trust the next one. And I hope you always do. Because you don't do it because you're naïve or gullible, but because you're the kindest man with the greatest faith in humanity I've ever known, and you give every person an equal chance." He kissed Finn's neck and held him. "And it's because of you that I reckon we have to have people like Hux and Terex, because for every good person like you, we need a festering pustule on the face of humanity. To…balance things out."

Finn blushed, face still hidden against Poe's chest, not sure what to do with all of Poe's compliments. "I love you," he told him, and then he sat up enough to give Poe a proper hug. "I didn't know that was…exactly what I think I needed to hear. But I _will_ be more careful."

Poe huffed, kissing Finn's hair and scratching his fingernails over his arm. "As long as you come back," he whispered. "I'm so proud of you, Finn. And I _admire_ the kriff out of you, buddy."

"He knew too much," Finn said softly, after a few moments. "Knew we are getting married, although he thought it had already happened. He knew about Sam." And he'd threatened every member of Poe's family, and Sevens, and everyone in the Resistance. He'd threatened to recondition Finn and send him back. "And he wanted to know where the Resistance was hiding," Finn added—it had been one question in amongst all the threats.

Poe nodded, and slowly let out a breath. "Buddy, you don't need to tell me what he..." Poe swallowed. They had been over this, of course, in a debrief setting, formal and official and _these were the things he asked_ , _this is what I told him_ , _no, our base isn't currently compromised_ , yes, _the Guavian Death Gang is working for the Order and are now in control of Jakku_ , _no, we don't know if Terex made it out alive, but his ship certainly didn't_. 

"At some point I kinda just stopped asking how Terex knew so godsdamned much all the time. Like he's always one step ahead, so you have to be three. But—" Poe licked his lips, pulled back and grasped Finn's shoulders. "Do you think he's got someone _here_?"

Finn thought about this. It made a lot of sense, actually, and he shivered suddenly. "I hadn't thought of it that way...but...yes." Which meant they weren't safe, even here. "Kriffing—we have a _spy_?" he asked.

"I don't—I don’t _know_ , Finn, you're the one who talked to Terex, you tell me," Poe said, and slid into another hug. As if on cue, Same woke up and started crying, and Poe set both of their half-eaten dinners aside so he could lift his son from his little carrier and comfort him. Luckily, Sam stopped crying once he was picked up, and Poe looked back at Finn with dark eyes. "Or, we could not think about it. Who would—I mean, who would _fake_ something like that? The food here's not _that_ good, believe me." He patted Sam absently, and then sighed. "Are we just giving up on dinner?" He couldn't say he was terribly hungry now, either.

"We _could_ comm Rey and ask her to get cake on the way home..." Finn suggested, happy enough to drop the subject. Leia knew everything Terex had said, and that he had had details he shouldn't have had—but she and Luke could take care of it. Finn looked down at Sammy, who was perfectly happy now that he was in someone's arms. "Hello, little one! What do you think? Should Papa and Daddy have cake for dinner?" he asked. 

Although Poe had tied off the sleeve on the nubbin-side of Sam's onesie, this did not deter Sam from trying to stuff it in his mouth, and indeed, he seemed to be enjoying _drenching_ the knot in saliva. "Ew, Sammo. You're gross, man. Of course he'd agree we should have cake for dinner. He's a little rebel, look at him!" Indeed, his onesie clearly read "L'il Rebel" on it. It had been a birthday gift from the pilots and it finally fit Sam, who was growing fast.

"Or we could go. Maybe I could use some fresh air." And Sam loved the mess hall, which meant laughter and smiles that would put Finn's heart somewhat at ease. He could pretend he hadn't nearly been tortured to death by a madman who knew too much about his family and everything he held dear.

"Yeah?" Poe said, already leaping into action, fetching the hoverchair and the diaper bag— "Oh, here, hang on, let me just change him now," he corrected. "You doing all right?" Poe checked, eyeing Finn carefully and waiting for a nod—Finn hadn't had anything like a panic attack or a flashback in going on six months now, but all it needed was a monster like Terex to trigger something, probably—before laying Sam down to change his indeed dirty diaper. Although Poe was unfazed by any bodily fluids Sam could yet introduce him to, the spit-soaked onesie just _had_ to go, it was truly disgusting. "Now you stay there, kid," he said, leaving a fussing baby who couldn't turn himself over yet to help Finn back into the hoverchair. "Here you are, sir. One clean baby," he said, grinning as he rested Sam's warm little weight in Finn's lap (it was the only way to get Finn to wear a blanket). Sam cooed and stuffed his fist in his mouth in response.

"You're lucky he's cute," Finn said, suffering the annoyance of a kriffing _blanket_ like a kriffing _ancient_ only because it would keep Sam warm. And the kid loved it—he flung his arms over Finn's restraining forearm and babbled happy baby sounds. Finn gave Poe a look that was deeply unimpressed about all of this except their son.

Poe laughed: no matter how dark the subject, no matter how long the day, coming home to Sam made it all worth it, and made it all better for all of them. "Come on, Sammy, let's go get Daddy some cake." Poe slung the diaper bag over the back of the chair and guided it back out of the _Falcon_ and back through the hangar to the mess hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven’t already seen it, MayGlenn is writing [Created Equal](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9231971), a (jedi)stormpilot Clone Wars AU that is meant to be Finn and Poe (and Rey)'s fanfiction. Fanfic inception!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seventy-nine days before the wedding.
> 
> Note: mentions of past sexual assault in this chapter.

For their session, Rey had taken Timons to the observation deck.

"I usually feel better up here. It's more open, and it's—kind of beautiful, in a stark way," Rey had said, but Timons just shrugged. She wasn't overly fond of red, and everything on this planet was red. Still, the way the wind had shaped the dunes and hills was interesting, and she caught herself staring out at the landscape only once the silence had stretched.

"Um. How's Sam?" she asked. "I-I've been helping out at the daycare center, now. A few days a week." She beamed. "It's really wonderful. I don't have full clearance yet, but—maybe when we—if you and I work—or with Dr. Lan..." _Great, Time_ , she scolded herself: _from small-talk to awkward in five seconds. Not that Rey doesn't know all about you_. She shuddered and moved away, hunching her shoulders. "She says I need to deal with my trauma before I can be taken off restricted duty," she blurted out.

Rey watched Timons as she hunched her shoulders and basically shut down. She wasn't entirely sure what to do with this—Finn and Poe were more intuitive with people than she was, but everyone involved with the stormtroopers agreed that Timons had evidently "chosen" Rey, so here she was. Dr. Lan had briefed her on how not to screw up, and given her some other pointers for how to deal with cases like Timons specifically, but it had been brief.

Luke had told her to use the Force ("I know that's not specific enough, but you have to use your instinct to decide how best to use it. Consider it training.").

For now, perhaps getting them both to relax enough to actually converse was a good plan. Rey took a deep breath and forced her posture into something less fight-or-flight. "You'll get there. You're already getting there. The nursery staff say you're very good with the kids! They said something about you breaking up a scuffle between some of the toddlers? And they seemed very impressed that you'd done it alone. How did you know you needed to step in? You stopped it before it got serious, it sounds like." Timons liked talking about the nursery, so this was hopefully a safe topic.

"Oh, I just—" Timons said, startled into answering before she remembered to be uncomfortable, "knew. There weren't enough blocks, so I asked Keeno to show me the ships instead. The cadets—in the Order—were encouraged to 'jockey for position.’" Timons frowned. "I didn't like them to fight, but I wasn't supposed to stop it, so I learned to break them up before it turned into a fight, before anyone else could notice. When I could. There was a very high ratio of cadets to minders, so I couldn't always keep track..." It was probably why she was so _neurotic_ , as Tova was fond of calling her. "But," she said, forcing that away to deal with something happier, "the children here are much...more sweet. Less well behaved, though," she laughed. "Very messy. Your Sam! He is the worst of them all. Always wet! Always!"

"We do twice as much laundry now as we used to!” Rey agreed, laughing. “ _Twice_! And he's only a tiny baby," Rey said, laughing. He went through multiple onesies a day at this point, and more or less lived in the fabric bibs Poe's dad had sent. "I'm hoping he'll grow out of it before he learns to walk and gets drool all over everything and anything he touches." Rey had no idea where to go from here, but she made a mental note that talking about the nursery made Timons happy even when she was shutting down. "How is it working out with the other nursery staff?" she ventured.

"Jonorai is...very nice," Timons said, sounding surprised at herself. "Um—I don't—work with—everyone." She shifted. "The men, I don't work with the men." There, she said it. She couldn't interact with half the galaxy's population without having a panic attack. Exceptionally tall women made her uncomfortable. Sevens’ nonbinary gender didn't, though, or Reist’s. "But, um, Sall helps sometimes, and, ah, Yoya, she's funny. She always makes the children laugh." Timons blinked as she smiled. "I like hearing them laugh. You probably—" she looked up at Rey, blushing. "Things like this probably make you think I'm...soft. I'm not a warrior, like you. I never was, not even in the Order." She shrugged.

Rey raised her eyebrows. "In what way does liking the laughter of children make you soft?" she asked. And as for not working with men: "Later, when you're comfortable with the idea, and not before, we might try extending your comfort zone so you can work with men, too. If it takes a year, or two, or more, before you're comfortable pushing yourself to do that, then it takes a year or two or more." Rey smiled crookedly and went to grab some cushions from the pile in one corner of the room. She handed one to Timons and sat down, but let Timons decide if she wanted to do the same. "Though, between the two of us, I would bet on it not taking that long. You're really doing incredibly well, Timons. You should be proud—failing that, Dr. Lan and I are proud enough of you," she added from her seat on the floor, and grinned up at Timons.

Timons took the pillow, fiddling with its edges. Rey's praise was warm and strangely comforting. It made her feel happy in a way she hadn't expected it to, and she laid the pillow down across from Rey and sat on it. "Thank you," she said, far too late for it not to be awkward, but she said it. "Um, I know—I mean, I know your—I know Finn is good and kind. Objectively, I know that. The officers of the First Order were—not kind. Mostly the men. Well," she laughed darkly, "the women were often worse, but none of them took any special interest in me."

Rey frowned, wishing those officers dead. But death wishes had no place here, where they were trying to heal a wound that went deeper than any mere flesh. Instead, she took a deep breath and let it go, as Master Skywalker had taught her.

"I have found that there are different ways of knowing. And knowing with your head is one thing, but knowing with your heart is something else completely. I know, for example, that I won't starve again, or have to fight someone for food again." Here, she grinned, settling herself more comfortably before she continued. "But—and I’m sure you've noticed because you've seen us eating in the mess hall—convincing my heart not to view the food in front of me as a limited resource to be guarded and eaten as quickly as possible and in its entirety is a different story." Poe and Finn shared food with her now, and she didn't tend to snarl like a feral dog if someone else reached for her plate—but most everyone knew not to reach for her food unless she offered.

Timons shifted. "Really?" she asked. "I mean—I just mean—I thought Jedi were all serene and didn't struggle with anything." She slid backwards onto the floor and pulled the cushion into her lap instead. Then she frowned. "I'm sorry. I had a lot of things happen to me, but at least I never went hungry." Her heart ached for—for a Jedi! It was kind of absurd: she felt somehow like she couldn't or shouldn't pity a Jedi. Maybe she and Rey had something in common after all.

"I'm pretty sure even Luke struggles sometimes. I struggle so much that my great-grandfather sometimes appears as a Force ghost to...give me advice." She grinned at Timons somewhat wryly. It had been awhile since Obi-Wan’s latest visit, so presumably he'd either given up on her entirely or he didn't disapprove of her recent actions. She had a feeling it was something between the two. "Oh, and remind me sometime to tell you about the Mortis incident." If anything defined a lack of serenity it was that debacle. "But—I like to think that while I've been giving Master Luke headaches, I've learned _some_ things about overcoming struggle and finding serenity. Would you like me to teach you?"

Timons thought about it, hugging the pillow. Of course she wanted to be better, but—it was probably going to be difficult. "I—try not to think about those—times," she said defensively. "But—" she chewed the inside of her cheek, "what do you do?"

"It's less about thinking about them on purpose, and more about...hmmmm. I guess it's more a matter of neither avoiding nor engaging them. So you just let them be. I can help you if you want to try," Rey explained. She wasn't good at this teaching thing. She didn't know how to explain what she did so that someone else could do it. "If it doesn't work, we can...talk? I can tell you about Mortis, although I could do that anyway."

Timons shook her head. "No. I—want to try," she said, shaking her head determinedly. "I mean—it’d be ideal if you could do some Jedi Mind Wipe to scrub them all from my brain, but, barring that..." Timons trailed off, and waited.

"That would be a world. But unfortunately even if I could, I'm pretty sure that's _not_ regulation use of the Force." She nodded to the pillow Timons was holding. "Do you want one to sit on, or are you comfortable?" she asked.

Timons shook her head. "I'm comfortable. Uh. Thanks." She was ready. It felt rather like waiting for a magic trick to happen, though Timons was pretty sure that wasn't how this was actually going to be.

"Okay. Close your eyes. Then focus on your heart. You should be able to feel it beat, especially if you put a finger on the pulse in your wrist." She waited for Timons to try this before continuing in a soft voice. "Eventually your mind is going to wander—that’s fine, just come back to your heart. Just, uh, let the thoughts do their thing. Don't stop them or anything, just let them come and go and return to your heart." She tried this herself for a moment, watching her own thoughts flow lazily past.

Timons tried this. The feel of her pulse under her fingertips reminded her of hands holding her wrists, though—memories like wild animals threatened to crawl inside—but she let them go, turned away—and she laid a hand over her heart instead. The pillow made it so she wasn't even sure Rey could see what she was doing. "O-okay," she said, like this was a lesson she had mastered and could move on from, but Rey didn't respond.

When Timons peeked an eye open, and saw that Rey had her eyes closed still, she so Timons quickly closed hers again. She counted her heartbeats, ran the math in her head to calculate her pulse, compared it to memorized charts of acceptable ranges, and was lost in numbers until she was calm again. Twelve beats per slow breath, in and out. Thirteen on the next. She wondered how many she could get before remembering this wasn't a contest, probably. She wondered what was happening at the childcare center. If they were—but she let the thought go. Gently, this time. Going to think about this later. Go see them later, maybe, if she could. Think about that later, too. Breathe in. Breathe out. My heartbeats. My pulse. I'm safe here. Let that thought go. Heartbeats.

Rey cracked her eyes open to see how Timons was doing and smiled, because she had a look of intense concentration on her face. "Now try relaxing, move your focus out very gradually to where you're tense, and let those muscles relax and unknot. When you get distracted, go back to your heartbeat if you need to. See if you can watch those things you don't like to think about from a safe distance, but don't cling to them. Just notice they're there. Eventually you'll find you can approach them without panicking, but that probably won't happen now. For now you want to train yourself to find that safe place where your heart beats, so you can go there when you need to," Rey said evenly. They would talk later about how some people found it easier to visualize this as a physical place of their own making. But right now, that would only complicate matters.

Timons nodded, and let the thoughts in, one at a time—her knees digging into the hard floor—and then pushed it away. She winced remembering a candlelit dinner and a promotion from an old man who just wanted to touch—and let it go again. She was almost getting good at this, though she went back to her heartbeat several times. They couldn't hurt her here. They were just memories. _Memories you have to deal with or you'll be a freak forever_.

She went deeper, remembering more. And that was the problem, wasn't it? Her memory was _perfect_. She remembered how they smelled, each touch, each hurt—no, stop, let it go—heartbeats. Breaths. She could remember the briefing room screen and how cold the desk was, and all the flimsi and datapads scattered there in front of her as he—

Timons gasped and scrambled to her feet.

Rey was so startled when Timons jumped up that she surged to her feet and swung to face the door before she could register moving, heart thudding uncomfortably fast. "Timons? What's wrong?" she asked once she'd registered no external threat to either of them. "Breathe," she added, because Timons sort of...wasn't. Not normally, anyway.

"I—um—" Timons said, sounding distressed. "I'm okay. No, I—I’m not. Really. But I—there’s—I have information. For the General. Can you get me—I need to get to the Command Center. Can you get me in there?" Her heart was pounding. Too fast. Her breaths were too fast, too, and she didn't _like_ this, but she wasn't... "I'm not scared. I'm—fighting back. I know that's not serene and it's not—"

"There's a time and place for serene and this is not it," Rey said. She nodded to the door. "Come with me." On the way out, she commed Luke, just in case Leia was too busy to answer. "Master Luke, can you clear everyone from Command and tell the General to meet us there? Just the General. I'll explain later," she said, and then they were on their way to the Command Center.

Timons led the way, faces in the Resistance base a blur as she sprinted well ahead of Rey.

("Whoa, was that Rey?" Poe asked.

"And Timons?" Finn said.

They looked at each other and followed, Poe pushing the hoverchair faster than it was probably meant to go.)

When Timons burst into the Command center it was blissfully empty, empty except—

"Easy, Timons," the General said, with her trusty golden droid behind her, and Timons didn't shy from her like she usually did, and Threepio’s masculine-sounding greeting didn’t even bother her. "What's this about?"

"I have information. I need—all of these stations on. Or—or one station, and I'll write it all down, I don't—I want to work quickly, General, please, _these are not pleasant memories to relive so vividly_ but I can—"

"Say no more," the General said. Her face, if Timons thought about it, was pained. "Can I have Connix inside to help you?" Timons nodded, and Leia brought Kaydel back into the Command Center. "Rey, Connix. Sit down. Timons, when you're ready."

"All right, Timons?" Rey checked. "Remember your breaths, and your heartbeat."

"Yeah,” Timons said, not at all focused on her breaths or heartbeats. “Are you ready? Cloning factories are built on Zonama Sekot. There were supposed to be two. The one near Malagarr and there was going to be another near Adumar."

"General, what the hell—" Poe asked, and the General had never rounded on him so fiercely.

"GET. OUT," she snarled, and Poe yanked the hoverchair back out. Sam fussed audibly, frightened by Leia’s raised voice.

"Holy crap," Poe he squeaked, sure he was having a heart attack, but Finn shushed him, trying to listen in, as Timons, heedless, kept rattling off numbers, _exact coordinates_ in many cases, which Connix and Rey struggled to keep up with as she ran frantically around the room, scribbling on maps and filling in star charts.

This girl was a genius.

"They have cadet training facilities on Endor, Ison, Quermia, and Yaga Minor. Raids for new cadets happen twice a year—" she wrote out a long equation, "on this schedule. They target planets that don't have Republic delegates to keep it quiet. They have shipyards in Muunilinst and Nar Shaddaa. Seven star-destroyers, two more Finalizer-class. Each require a two-thousand man crew and can carry at least one hundred TIEs. The following Republican senators are First Order sympathetic..." she said, and listed name after name after name, until Leia had to sit down. Many of them were those she had considered _friends_.

"They get their supplies from Core planets..." she continued, and Timons had never felt so alive. In her memories now _she_ had the power. She was fucking _them_. Every. Single. One. It felt good. "They have bases on Ryloth, Dantooine, Garos IV, Kamino. They have strong cells in Corellia and Coruscant. Fifty thousand personnel were lost on Starkiller but they have at least a hundred thousand in stolen children and recruits from dissatisfied planets, mostly in the Imperial sector…"

Timons stopped, reeling suddenly. "Um," she said, and sat heavily, in a chair that Rey barely pushed under her in time. Was that all? She wanted there to be more, she wanted to hurt them, get them back, and she repeated back everything she had just said, with coordinates, sometimes full names this time, cities, even the _names_ of the star destroyers. "I…don't know where the Supreme Leader is," Timons concluded, and burst into tears.

Rey looked at Leia, who was stunned into silence. But Timons, who had experienced too much and had, apparently, an incredible memory, was hunching in her chair as if she would hide, and Rey first and foremost needed to make sure she was alright.

"Timons?” Rey said, dropping to her knees in front of her. “Hey, can you listen to me? Take a few deep breaths. Find your heartbeat," she told her, touching her legs, gently, and when that seemed all right, she moved up to rubbing her arms. "You're incredible—this is...this is more than I think we've ever had about the First Order. You’ve helped us so much." She glanced at Leia, who nodded. "I'm going to get you some water, and the General and Connix will be right here. Is that okay?" she asked, not sure if the ex-stormtrooper was going to have a panic attack or if she was simply overwhelmed.

Timons wanted to say ‘Don't go,' but she trusted Rey to mean what she said, and she trusted the General and she thought she liked Connix who was so pretty, so she nodded and sniffled. The deluge of tears had done its work, and she felt almost better, and she focused on her heartbeats. Ten on a breath. Eleven. Twelve. She breathed. And when the memories came back she told herself she _had her revenge_ and could let them go.

Outside, barely able to hear what had happened, Poe and Finn were stunned.

"Rey!" Poe cried when Rey emerged, looking determined. "What just hap—oh," he said, stepping out of her way. She wasn't in a talking mood.

Finn knew or could guess all Timons had been through in the Order, being meek and pretty and smart. Clever people had to be controlled, and sex was about power, not about pleasure, there. Thank the Force for her good memory—as much as it was a godsend for the Resistance, though, he supposed it was a curse for her. There was a part of Finn, a very small part, that wished he was still in the First Order, so he could do what he might, from the inside, to protect people like Connix. The galaxy wasn’t perfect outside the Order, but sexual assault didn’t seem so…systemic. Hells, he’d been out for a year and he still couldn’t stomach the idea of giving head, and Finn had only ever seen that kind of thing happen, it had never happened _to_ him. That Timons even functioned meant she was stronger than any of them.

"Later," Rey said in answer, jolting Finn from his thoughts, and she went to the nearest water dispenser to grab a cup and fill it. On her way back into the room, she paused thoughtfully by her family and took a few deep breaths. "Timons has a _perfect_ memory," she said, and let the implications of that sink in for a moment—Finn closed his eyes and swore internally—before crouching to Sam's level.

The infant looked a little uncertain that everything was okay. "Hey buddy. Want to go visit Timons? She could use a Sammy hug," Rey said, even though she had her doubts that Sammy understood anything of what she was saying. But when she picked him up, he didn't fuss, so she took that as a sign that he wasn't especially upset. Carrying Sam and the water, she returned to Timons' side and offered her the cup.

A new wave of tears burst from Timons at the sight of Sam, but she reached for him, and if Sam began crying, too, it seemed like it might have been in sympathy.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Sam. I should have known where you were sooner. I should have s-saved your brothers and sisters." She imagined Sam in some place as awful as the Order, and decided she could have endured a lifetime of it herself—as long as he never had to. She sniffed and kissed Sam's head, and looked up at Rey. "I'm sorry. It's weird to hug someone else's kid to feel better, right?" She huffed, and gave Sam back, and took the water instead. She was determined to feel better on her own.

"Timons—" Leia began. "This is..." she gestured.

"Thank you," Connix, who was good at knowing what the General was thinking, said.

"Yes. Thank you. What can we get you?"

Timons shrugged. "All of them dead," she said with a fierce smile and a new rush of tears.

Connix stood up. "Permission to go off duty for the evening, ma’am?" she said.

"Lieutenant, I need— _fine_ ," Leia said, since Connix had moved beside Timons, and Leia could trust her aide to look after her—as a person as much as an asset.

Leia let them go and rounded on Finn and Poe: "Finn, get in here. Poe, I need Ematt, Ackbar, and Brance, now. Don’t send someone, get them yourself. We've got work to do."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seventy-nine days before the wedding.
> 
> Trigger warning for graphic discussions of sex acts and gleeful misandry.

"They're going to be working all night," Connix explained, leading Rey and Timons from Command and down the corridors to her tiny room that adjoined the General's quarters. "We'll keep Sam with us for Girls’ Night. I usually invite Jess, Karé, and Coni, but it could be just us, if you prefer." She was so businesslike about this that Timons highly doubted it was going to be any fun.

But Rey grinned, having heard about these mythical Girls Nights that Connix was known to organize randomly but which she had never been here for. She glanced over at Timons, who shrugged, but in a way that implied she didn't mind either way, rather than that she was uncomfortable. And she didn't _look_ concerned...

"You should invite them. What do you have in mind? Should we go on a mess hall raid?" Rey asked, and was rewarded with a wicked grin that was rather surprising on Connix.

Their stop by the mess hall was quick, for popcorn and cookies, and was handled surprisingly efficiently. Rey wondered vaguely if the Resistance could _run_ without Connix.

Connix's room, when they arrived, was remarkably clean, such that even the ex-stormtrooper was ashamed of her own living space. "We usually fit three on the bed, and I have one chair and two large pillows. I have champagne. Jess always has wine. Karé usually has liquor," Connix said, comming everyone briefly. Timons seemed either slightly amused or concerned by all this. "Timons, do you have a favorite?"

"Hey hey hey," Karé said, waltzing in and setting a bottle of some clear liquid on the table like she was familiar with the space. She was also carrying what looked like a tool box.

"How did you get here so fast? Oh, good, you brought the make-up." Connix was grinning and seemed so much more _relaxed_ than Rey had ever seen her.

"Of course I did. If you think I'm letting young Sam leave this room without green toenails you are mistaken," Karé replied.

"I...a favorite? A favorite what?" Timons asked cautiously. Rey gave her an encouraging nod.

"You've probably never had any sort of alcohol, right?" she asked, and Timons shook her head a little harder than strictly necessary.

"The Lieutenants and Generals, they um. They drank. Sometimes." It had smelled like the medical bay, like a warning she'd never been able to heed.

"Oh, Timons. I-I'm so sorry. You don't have to drink, of course. Only if you want to, and we'll find you something that doesn't smell wrong. We can put the drinks away..."

“Right, sorry,” Connix said, already packing things up, but Timons surprised herself by speaking:

“No. It’s okay. I, um. I want to try,” she said firmly, though she looked anything but firm. “I promise I’ll tell you if it bothers me,” she added to Rey.

Rey nodded. “Okay,” she said, and Rey changed the subject. "So—makeup? Why? Not that I object to painting Sam's toenails. I mean, you won't have any luck, but at least it doesn't hurt when he kicks. Much." Rey was a little dubious about being painted with that stuff Connix wore to such good effect. Of course Connix pulled it off—she was Connix. Rey couldn't see herself doing any such thing.

"Oh, don't let Karé give you that stuff, it's poison," Jessika said, entering last and closing the door just as the bottles came back out. "Coni sends her best but is laid up in Medical, still. Timons, baby, I hear you're the big hero, so you call the shots. But I left _my_ baby for Girls Night, so this better be good!"

"Take a shot!" Karé scolded, and Connix laughed.

"That doesn't count! Sevens is non-binary!" Jess complained, but she took the small vial of clear liquid and tossed it back, anyway.

"We either make an exception for Sevens or we make an exception for Sam, not both," Connix declared, and turned to Rey and Timons with a smile. "You don't have to play your first time, but we have a rule where if you mention a male—or, well, now the rule is I guess, if you mention a non-female-identifying sentient being—you have to take a shot."

“Smash the patriarchy!” Karé whooped.  

Timons brightened, and then a giggle escaped her.

"We're going to have to mention Sam, he's right here!" Jess said, since she had already taken the shot and was now tickling Sam's feet until he cackled. The intimate gathering of people had him very intrigued. "What are his deadbeat dads doing, anyway? Oh! Shit!" Jessika laughed, as Karé refilled her cup. "Fine, that was fair. Here, Timons, try a sip of the bubbly. I think you'll like this."

Timons took the cup and sipped at it. It was surprisingly sweet, and smelled nothing like the acrid drinks from her First Order memories. "It's not awful," she said in surprise, and Rey laughed.

"Seriously, be careful with that stuff. The sweeter it is, the worse it'll be tomorrow if you get drunk." When Jess offered Rey a glass, she held up her hand. "I have to take care of Sam. You can drink for me, though."

"You got it, boss," Jess said, and plopped down on Connix's bed, and then immediately jumped up. " _Oh_ , hey, I forgot, I brought dresses and things we can all put on. And music, or we can skip straight to the holos. I brought my fluffy lesbian romance cartoons." She winked at Timons, who flushed, not quite understanding the meaning of the wink. But she thought she liked it—found it comforting instead of threatening.

Timons found herself actually gasping as something pink—and—swishy?—emerged from an otherwise nondescript navy duffle. "I—I’ve never worn a dress like that," she said.

"Neither have I. Looks like a fabric shop exploded," Rey said, which of course meant she was goaded into trying it on first. She tried to refuse on the grounds of holding Sam, but Jess was having none of it.

"Want to come hang out with Auntie Jess, my buddy? Of course you do!" she said, stealing Sam and whirling in a circle with her arms stretched up. He cackled happily and then got the hiccups, which made Timons laugh, and Rey smiled as she snuck to the bathroom to put the dress on.

"You can try this one on, Time—can I call you Time?" Karé asked. "It's blue and goes with your eyes."

Timons took it carefully, waiting a moment to process what had been said. The pilots spoke very quickly and loudly, she had noticed. But the dress was lovely, blue and pink, like a sunset. "It sparkles!" she said in delight. "Jess—I mean, Captain Pava, where do you—"

"Ah ah, that's a shot. No ranks at Girls Night, either. Take the shot!" Jess laughed.

Timons stamped her foot. "No!" she exclaimed, standing up for herself. "You can't spring these rules on me!"

All three of the women laughed again in surprise.

"Okay, okay. You're right. You get off with a warning there." Connix was already changing into something black and slinky as she listed off the rules. "No talking about males—"

"Unless it's a Code Red," Karé offered.

"Right. After someone's had a bad breakup or something, then guy- _bashing_ is allowed. Also no mentions of each other's rank in here. We can't be as open with each other as coworkers and Resistance members. Here it's...friends."

There was a pause, then, “Gaaaaaayyyyy,” Jessika said in what was meant to be a silly voice, and Karé hit her with a pillow.

Timons considered these rules, and nodded. "I break those rules and I have to take a shot? Of—this? Is it good?" She found she was enjoying the distraction. Enjoying feeling both very free and very safe at the same time. "Wait, I want to—how does this—um—"

Timons was struggling with the dress, and Jess got up to help her. "Yeah, the zipper is on the side, and it's asymmetrical—hang on, just—there!" she said, and stepped back.

"I want to do her make up!" Karé said. "Nothing cures a bad day like a makeover."

"I would love to braid your hair, Timons. Would you let us do that? And Kay can do a real nice mani pedi for you."

Timons was a bit overwhelmed. "Uh...yes?"

"You can change your mind at any point," Jess said with a smile. "Rey, you doing okay in there?"

"I'm…fine. Just entirely stuck," Rey said, voice muffled in pink ruffles. The zipper was caught in something—probably one of the damn strips of extraneous fabric. "Please send rescue." She heard someone laugh and realized it must have been Timons. She knew everyone else's laugh. "Seriously, help." She had tried to put the dress on over her head, and it was now stuck around her shoulders and her arms were stuck above her head.

"Oh my gods, Rey," Connix said, and had to laugh as she saw the disaster in her bathroom. "Take it off, let's try this again," she said, and helped Rey right the dress. Sam made a screeching sound, not having figured out object permanence yet, when Rey disappeared under folds of pink. However, when she emerged, he grinned, and sent a wave of drool down Jess' arm. "Oh, gross. I already had to dry clean this one after the wine incident last time," she muttered, but hugged him. "It's a good thing you're so cute, lil fella!"

"Here, sit down," Karé said to Timons. "Do they have make up in the First Order?"

"Umm," Timons said. "I'm guessing...no?" She had never been allowed any, at least.

Karé sighed. "This, ladies, is why we're fighting this war."

"Preach," Jess agreed, trying to get a holonovella going while still holding onto Sam. “Even though make-up is a tool of the patriarchy—it’s a _fun_ tool of the patriarchy!”

"Okay, we'll start simple, but with a pop of red lipstick, what do you think?" Karé suggested. "I'm gonna need to sit close to you, is that all right?"

"Ah! Rey, you look so beautiful, I hate you!" Connix exclaimed from the bathroom, and everyone _Oooh_ ed as Rey emerged.

Rey blushed right to the tips of her ears as the others expressed their admiration for the dress, and for her in it.

"Hey, Timons, you clean up good!" she exclaimed, changing the subject, and Timons smiled shyly. Karé turned to look at her, but Rey forestalled any suggestion of makeup with a raised hand. "The dress is already too far. Put that stuff on me and I'll look completely ridiculous. You can put it on me when I get married..." Karé lit up at this prospect and Rey wondered what she'd just gotten herself into.

"Finally! Okay. This is a good one—you’ll all like it, I promise," Jess said, having successfully got the holonovella running.

"Here, you can have him back," Jess offered, “because I don’t babysit while tipsy.” Karé and Jess and Connix were taking turns with Timons, doing her hair and make-up and painting her nails. As they sometimes watched and sometimes talked, Jess got her hair and nails done, and Karé painted her nails and did something wild with her own makeup.

"Look, guys, I'm the Queen of Naboo!"

"You're not supposed to say that," Connix hissed. "We share a wall with the General, you know."

"Eh, she's cracking the whip on the guys in Command... _speaking_ of cracking the whip on guys, since I have to take the shot anyway, how are things going with that bondage book I got you, huh?" Karé asked, waggling her eyebrows at Rey.

"Oh, gods, please don't. I really don't want to picture my Commander and my best friend naked. I need to respect them in the morning." Jessika shuddered. "Penises. Ew," she said, and took a shot.

"I wasn't even going to talk about penises, you know," Karé offered.

"Yeah, how is it the resident lesbian is the first to mention dicks, huh?" Connix said, taking her own shot.

This was clearly becoming a Drinking Game, and Rey and Timons looked at each other with bemused nervousness.

"I know, I'm disgusted with myself," Jessika said. "Oh, look! Oral!" she said, pointing at the screen to distract, where a softcore amorous scene was taking place.

"I'm just saying, Rey, if I _may_ say, if you haven't sat on Poe Dameron's face yet, you should at least _consider_ it, even as an experiment—"

" _Oh my gods, Karé, drink that BOTTLE, shit down and sut—_ wait, I said that wrong," Jess said, and giggled.

"Correction, I'm cutting you two off," Connix said, relieving them of the bottles and setting them by Rey. "The sober Jedi is guarding these. And no more talk about sex," she glared.

"Come ooonnnn Kay, I was only gonna talk about the proper order of women dominating and subjugating men!" Karé whined, but fell silent as the holo grew interesting.

"She said the M-word, she's gotta drink," Jess murmured. The pilots were now cuddling.

Connix sat down next to Timons. "Did you look at yourself in the mirror yet?

Timons shook her head and carefully stood, trying not to step on the dress or somehow ruin her toenails or anything else stupid and clumsy. She shuffled to the mirror and closed her eyes to step in front of it.

When she opened her eyes, she didn't recognize herself. The woman in the mirror was all long lines and gentle curves—more gentle curves than Rey or any other stormtrooper, the mark of a relatively easy life where food was concerned. She could never, ever have worn this in the First Order. Life had been hard enough when the others had only been attracted to her the way they were attracted to anyone who was fairly pretty and of a lower rank.

She continued to stare in the mirror, unsure how she felt about being—well, _gorgeous_. Head-turning gorgeous.

Connix stepped behind her, nodding. "You look fierce. Desirable, but powerful. They can look, but they can't touch you." Connix met her eyes in the mirror. "I'm not going to tell you that there aren't people who take advantage of other people when they can outside the Order. But it's not _okay_ here. You have a human right to _not_ be scared to be beautiful." She touched Timons' hair, moving a curl out of her face. "When I broke up with my last boyfriend I cut and dyed my hair and bought new lipstick and new shoes. It's stereotypical or whatever, but it made me feel beautiful, because I wanted to feel beautiful for _me_ . You can be beautiful for _you_. People have to respect that."

"If anyone tries to ever do—what they did, to me, ever again, I'll fight them," Timons said, although this made her feel small and afraid, a tiny thing swearing vengeance on something that, if she faced it, would freeze her in terror and take away any chance of fulfilling dire threats made in a safe place. She looked at Connix, but betrayed nothing of being afraid to be so bold. Here, at least, she was safe, and she smiled softly. "I wouldn't know myself except I know this is a mirror."

Connix laid a hand on her arm. "Ideally, you never will have to fight anyone over anything like that." She stepped back a bit. "Turn around. Take it in. I promise it's you."

"As the resident lesbian, I have to compliment your ass in as non-threatening and respectful manner as I possibly can. Which, since I am drunk already, is not very. I'm sorry. It's such a good ass, though. Better than Karé's."

"Boo, you whore. I'm supposed to have the best ass in the Resistance," Karé complained, but she let Jessika rest her head on her boobs, so she clearly wasn't too mad.

"Not anymore," Jess said, voice slightly muffled.

Connix rolled her eyes and smiled invitingly at Timons, offering her a hand. "Do you want to help me paint Sam's toes? And did you try the popcorn? It's tasty."

Timons turned a couple of times in front of the mirror, looking at the dress from different angles and getting a better look at the braid in her hair.

Presently, when she'd had enough of that, she turned to Connix. "That's not going to be as easy as you're hoping. Painting Sam’s toes," she laughed, and looked over at Sam, who was sitting in Rey's lap and watching everything with intense interest. He kept patting the steadying arm around his middle with both hand and nubbin.

"His feet are so ticklish!" Rey agreed when they joined her and Timons smiled shyly at little Sam, afraid he wouldn't recognize her. But he made a high-pitched noise of delight and grinned, and it may have been more of a comfort than Timons had expected.

"He's only a tiny baby, how hard could it be?" Connix said, and Jess even declared them her famous last words, but it wasn't until an entire bottle of nail polish and most of a bottle of acetone later than she had to admit defeat.

"Fine, I'm painting your fingernails, then, buddy," Connix growled, and kissed his hand until he suffered her to paint his tiny nails and hold his hand still until it dried.

"Looking good, buddy!" Karé called, and Jess agreed. Even Rey had to agree the purple was a nice choice.

"Would you paint my nails that color so we match?" Rey asked.

Timons watched the nail-painting with a smile, marveling at Sam's patience—as long as no one was messing with his feet. When Rey asked for her nails to be painted to match, Timons sidled up next to her and glanced at Sam. "I could hold him for you," she offered, trying not to sound too overly eager.

Sam was as glad as a baby could be to go to Timons' arms, where he knew he would be showered with love and from where he could watch his mother get her nails painted—just like him! And here it was comfy and warm and soft...

Timons snorted after a moment. "Did he just fall asleep?" she asked, “Just like that?”

Karé laughed and Jessika turned down the volume on the holo.

"Aww he's so cute!" Connix said, watching his mouth purse in sleep.

"He likes Timons," Rey commented. Sam was out like a light, snuggled very securely and comfortably in Timons' arms. He was very cute when he slept, especially when he made faces. Rey's heart was melting more than a little, watching this gentle ex-stormtrooper who had seen too much of the worst of sentient species smile down at Sam. Her son was probably every bit the help to Timons that Rey was, if she was honest with herself, and she couldn't have been more glad.

Things wound down shortly afterward, since Jess and Karé had already been cut off and Connix was going easy on Rey and Timons. "Here," she said, going through her things. "You can have this, and this, and—well, the lipstick at least," she said, pressing a tube into Timons' palm, and some red nail polish as well.

"Oh, no, I can't—"

"Take it, and throw it out if you don't want it. It's really too dark for me. But it's a lovely shade on you."

"And next time, you make the menfolk babysit," Jessika slurred. "Sam's cute and all, but Girls' Night is sacred."

"All right, ace, time for bed," Karé was telling her, dragging her to her feet. "Get the dresses back to her at some point."

"Whee!" Jessika said from where she was thrown over Karé's shoulder.

Since Timons was sure she definitely wasn't comfortable possibly being seen in the dress (she'd have to get used to seeing herself in it first), she snuck into the bathroom to change before she left the safe bubble that Connix’s room and ‘Girls Night’ had created. Dressed in her usual fatigues again, she found Rey waiting for her with a sympathetic smile and a still-sleeping Sammy.

"Thanks again, Kay," she said as Connix walked them to the door of her small room.

"Thank _you_. Both of you. Especially you, though, Timons. Lives will be saved with what you gave us," she said, and Timons offered her a small smile. "The lipstick is the least I could do," Connix said with a wink.

"Next week, lingerie!" Karé said, dragging Jess off.

"We don't do this every—" she sighed, because the pilots were already gone. "We really _don't_ do this every week. Just special occasions." Connix gave Timons a very quick hug, and Rey one, too, and Sam a kiss. "Sleep well. We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

Timons was shocked to find that she didn't flinch when Connix gave her a hug. There was something comforting about the gesture that she hadn't expected. She hid her surprise with a smile for Rey and Sam.

"Can I walk you to your quarters?" Rey asked, shifting Sam to her other arm. "Can _we_ walk you to your quarters?"

"Yes please," she answered. There was a minor maze of halls between Connix's quarters and hers, and when it was dark she got jumpy about people in the corridors. Company would put her mind at ease, somewhat.

"Great," Rey said. The corridors seemed a bit dead—were they _all_ still in the Command Center? Maybe she should check after dropping Timons off. "How did you enjoy, ah, Girls Night? That was my first time, too. It—wasn’t what I expected."

Timons chuckled in agreement with Rey and shook her head fondly. "They're all very kind. Jess’ holo was—" she paused and then continued— "I sometimes forget what is allowed in the Resistance, so I was surprised. But the ending was wonderful." She wondered if she could find a way to find holos with similarly happy endings. She might watch them all day. "It was all a very good distraction," she added. Now, if she went back to thinking of things she wished she didn't remember, she had extra ammunition to fight those memories—Sam kicking over the bottle of nail polish and shrieking with laughter when they tried to paint his toenails, the easy camaraderie among the four other women, and the way they'd made room for her as though she had always been there.

"Distractions can be good," Rey agreed. "I would still like to practice meditating with you, too, if you like. If you don't want to after today, I understand." They stood in front of the Troopers' bunk. It was marked quiet, which meant the others were asleep, and they lowered their voices. "Do you want to meet tomorrow?" She held Sam up. "Say goodnight, Sammy," she instructed, even though her child was totally asleep.

"Maybe day after tomorrow? I have to talk to Dr. Kalonia tomorrow, instead of Dr. Lan..." This meant she would be exhausted, probably, or at least in no mental state to meditate. She wasn't looking forward to it, so she stopped thinking about it. Instead, she looked at Sammy. "He is very much asleep!" she said, smiling, and then touched his arm gently. "Goodnight, Sammy. Sweet dreams, little one," she said quietly.

"That's fine," Rey said. "I hope you have a good meeting. You can comm me if you need anything tomorrow." Now, Rey wasn't exactly a hugger, but she was marrying Finn and Poe Dameron, so hugging had almost become a habit, so when Timons leaned in Rey held out an arm to invite her in further. "You can hug both of us?" she tried, smiling.

"Thank you," Timons told Rey as she hugged them both gently. Sam awoke partially to complain about being disturbed, but just as quickly he settled with his face buried against Rey's side. "He's just so sweet," Timons said with a soft smile.

"He loves you a lot. You've done wonderful things for him, and for all of us," Rey said. "Thank you, Timons." She smiled and turned back as Timons entered her bunk.

And Rey _thought_ about going to the Command Center, but she was tired, Sam needed to be put down, and they would find her eventually. There were perks to being a civilian, after all. She laid Sam in his crib, tucked him in, and undressed down to her sleep clothes. Tomorrow, they would have work to do.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seventy-nine days before the wedding.

Finn had watched Timons, Connix, and Rey leave in some concern, wondering what had just happened and if Timons was really alright, or if she was just pretending. But there was work to do, and while Dr. Kalonia had told him to take it easy, she hadn't known that they'd find themselves in this situation. He'd just...rest later. Right now there were more important things to do than worry about a little discomfort here or tiredness there. They had a war to win.

Poe had sprinted through the base to wake the command staff personally, and then he sprinted back, and was leaning on Finn's chair and panting when he returned.

"Okay, people, I need to know how thin we can spread ourselves, realistically and honestly, with zero casualties," Leia began.

Poe liked that she always said that, no matter how unrealistic. Every life mattered. Every life lost was on _their_ shoulders.

"I want to make a bombing run on their shipyards," Poe offered, the first to speak up. "A pair of bombers and a pair of X-wings if it's Black Squadron. Give me eight and we can coordinate our attack and hit both of their shipyards at the same time before they realize it."

"I need you or Wexley running recon," Brance countered. "We need to know which locations have minimal civilian populations so we know what we can hit and how hard we can hit it."

"Where do we think Snoke is in all this?" Statura wondered, staring up at the starcharts, with Timons' notes spread over the holomap.

"If I had to guess, I'd say Dantooine." Brance pointed. "It's out of the way, near Imperial space, well-protected."

Leia frowned. "If we could remove the Supreme Leader..." she hummed. Her son would no longer have a dark master. He might be saved and brought to justice.

"That might even win the war," Ematt agreed, eyes darting around the map. "I'd say that's as good a bet as any."

"We need to hit as many places as fast as we can, before they get onto us and start pulling out," Poe said. "I can send all squadrons out on recon, but if they spot us, the jig is up."

"We need to make sure he'll be there before we attack Dantooine," Finn said, speaking suddenly where before he had been silent. "If we hit all the other confirmed bases, we can be pretty reasonably sure he'd flee to Dantooine. Then we attack there with everything we have."

Everyone was staring at Finn with a profound respect. Poe grinned, and Leia nodded. "Okay, Major, what's your suggestion?"

Finn grabbed a pointer from the desk and hovered himself closer. "We send full squadrons, as many as we can spare, minus the recon vessels, to take out the shipyards. If we cripple their fleet, we reduce their ability to move troops. I'd like to see operatives on Coruscant and Corellia trying to expose the corrupt senators, or at least scare them into stopping cash flow. We have a cadet raid coming up, and I'd really like to stop that, so no more parents lose their kids." That was maybe low on the threat list, but it was important to Finn, and he was confident that prioritizing these things what made them the good guys. "And I would like to organize some counter-raids on the cadet training facilities. Get the young ones, like Deeks, if not on our side, get them away from the Order. We'll gain some allies, they'll lose some, and no one dies." Finn took a deep breath. "Then I'd like to have full landing parties on Ryloth and Garos IV simultaneously, and regroup for Dantooine." Those would get rough.

Leia stared at Finn for a long moment. "Then that's what we'll do. Dameron."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Send Snap to recon Ryloth and Garos IV. Our intelligence is old there."

"Ma'am."

"And I want you readying your squadrons to attack Muunilinst and Nar Shaddaa in the next 24 hours."

"Ma'am," Poe said. He almost ran out the door before dropping to his knees beside the hoverchair and tugging Finn into a kiss.

Finn, who was tired and sore in a way we hadn't been earlier, put his hand gently around the back of Poe's neck to hold the kiss for just a little while longer. When he finally let Poe pull away, he smiled down at him. " _Stay safe_. Stay alive, and come back. We've got a kid to raise and things to do—a wedding to have," he told him.

Poe nodded. "Of course. They won't even know we're coming. Hit 'em quick, and get out fast." He got up, and then dropped to a knee again. "I'll come say good night after I brief the pilots," he promised, and kissed him again. "Have fun waking Rey up." He winked and was gone.

...

_Seventy-eight days before the wedding._

...

None of the pilots were happy about being awake, but everyone was happy to have something to take out their aggression on. Tova and Nova were going out on their first mission, with the rest of the Y-wings. Poe and Jess were leading one run, Iolo and Karé the other, with the squadrons split between them, while a few pilots—Snap, Solara, Ziff—were going to be scouting other locations.

Finn returned to their room and found both Rey and Sam fast asleep. He pushed himself out of the hoverchair and winced as his side twinged. But soon he had curled down next to Rey, and he gently kissed her awake. "Hey, sunshine. Gotta tell you some things," he whispered.

Rey squirmed and snuffled awake. "Hm? Finn? You guys done?" She squinted and blinked her eyes open. "Where's Poe?"

"He said he'll come by before he leaves, but I'd guess he's gathering and briefing his pilots, like I'll have to gather and brief my soldiers tomorrow. We're attacking the First Order with everything we reasonably can. We couldn't have done this without Timons. And without you," Finn told her. He shifted, trying to find a comfortable position and only sort of succeeding. "I imagine Luke will want to talk to you in a little while, but there's no rush." If they were going to be run ragged for the foreseeable future, he wanted this quiet time with her before all hell broke loose.

Rey sighed, winding her limbs around Finn, careful, gentle, but holding him tight nevertheless. Poe was going _tonight_ ? Right away? That wasn't fair. But if Timons really had given them so much good information, it was no wonder they wanted to act on it immediately, and no way Poe wasn't going to be the first one out. "Do they need pilots? Should I go offer?" But maybe she'd need to go somewhere with Luke. Timons had really laid the entire First Order quite bare, and if they had any lead on Snoke or the Knights of Ren, that was where Rey and Luke would go first. "They're not sending _you_ out, are they?" she asked suddenly. "I mean, before you're healed."

"No, of course not," Finn said, and he pet Rey's hair reassuringly. She was warm and sleepy, still, and it made him want to do nothing more than curl up with her here and sleep forever. When she started scratching his arm softly, he actually whined, because he was so tired and it just felt _good_. "I love you, sunshine," he mumbled, because his forehead was resting against her collarbone and his voice was muffled against the blankets. "Can you use the Force to pause time as soon as Poe gets here?" It sounded plaintive and whiny, almost, but whatever. He was allowed.

"Aww, sweetheart," Poe said as he stepped inside their room. He was already dressed in a flightsuit from somewhere, and had his war face on, though it softened at the sight of them. "I'm doing the Nar Shaddaa run, so we'll be back sooner. Probably back before Dr. K. lets you out of this chair," he added cheekily.

Rey and Finn opened their arms as Poe bent over the bed to kiss them. "I love you. Give Sammo kisses for me, okay?"

"Do you need more pilots?" Rey offered.

"Not tonight, love, but yeah. I think you and Luke are going to do some runs for us while the rest of the squadrons are gone." Poe paused. "Thank Timons for me."

Rey nodded. "I will." She paused, tilted her head up for a kiss. "You want to take the _Falcon_?"

"Oh no, you'll need her." Poe kissed them each again and then straightened. "Okay, okay, I'm going," he said, but bent back for another kiss, and did this a few times until they laughed. "Gonna lick every inch of you when I get back," he declared.

"While we’re young, Dameron," said an annoyed-sounding Karé from his comlink. Poe grinned sheepishly and with a wink he was gone.

…

Finn didn't stay in bed for long. Sam woke up and demanded attention presently, and Rey needed to go speak with Luke, so since he wasn’t going to get any more sleep, Finn took his son with him back to the command center. Leia was in the middle of planning a raid when he arrived. Finn wondered if she had ever slept. She motioned him over to help with input on potential weaknesses of the base they planned to attack. While Sam grabbed at the holograms on the projection table, they planned an assault on the first of many First Order bases.

...

Luke was already dressed, which was weird, because it was still early. Rey wondered if he had  ever gone to sleep.

"I have been meditating," he said. "We need to find Captain Wexley. I sense we are needed on Adumar and Dantooine." There was a datapad that listed the suspected First Order locations resting on his knees. "Chewie and I will ready the _Falcon_ while you say your goodbyes. We won't be gone long, just scouting."

Rey nodded. "Okay." She turned to go, but:

"Wait," Luke told her, and she stopped. "Er. I think I've been kneeling too long. You should help me up."

Rey actually laughed and helped him to his feet. "You actually worry me."

...

_Seventy-six days before the wedding._

...

"You want me to take Sam with me on our trip? Or drop him at the school for today?" Rey asked Finn—who was already again neck-deep in coordinating attacks and intel. Rey had never seen the Command Center so busy. She laid a hand on the back of his neck and rubbed gently.

Finn didn't realize how long he'd been hunching over in the hoverchair until Rey interrupted his train of thought. He leaned gratefully into her hand and tipped his head back to look at her. "There's no school for him to go to—they’re sending all non-essential civilians off-base."

Then Finn sighed heavily, putting his datapad down and rubbing his eyes. "Remember when Kes offered to take Sam if we needed him to? We should probably talk about it," he said, even though he knew it would make them both unhappy.

Rey frowned, petting Sam's head with her other hand, making him gurgle and coo. She hated that idea, but—well, they had a war to win.

"It wouldn't be for very long," she said, trying to be brave. "And he said he wanted to." She smiled. "Didn't Poe live with his grandparents when he was a baby?" Rey leaned down to guide Finn into a lingering kiss. "We'll ask Poe when he gets back."

"MAJOR FINN, I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO _REST_!" came a shout from the door.

"Harter, please—" Leia said, intervening. No way was she giving up her best asset at this crucial juncture.

"Don't 'Harter' me, Leia!" the Doctor snapped, and the room collectively gasped. No one talked to the General like that.

Finn instinctively shrank back as far as he could in the hoverchair. He looked to Leia, but there was no help coming from that quarter, either, not now that she'd been told off. Finn might have tried to distract Dr. Kalonia with Sam and his cute gurgling, but he, too, had fallen silent. Also, one did not use one's child to distract an angry doctor, no matter how tempting it was...

"I _am_ resting, I promise. I haven't stood from this chair in two days except to use the bathroom. I feel fine, I promise," he said.

"Please, Harter. We're so close, and we need him," Leia begged. "Bring a bed in here if you have to."

Dr. Kalonia turned to Finn, frowning. "You never came for your medications," she said. "But I can't keep you from using your mind." She sighed. "If you take your meds and _you_ ," she said, pointing to the General, "make sure he doesn't do anything strenuous, then he can stay."

Leia nodded. "Of course. Thank you."

"I can help, ma'ams," Connix offered, standing up. "With the baby."

"All right," Dr. Kalonia said, but before she could leave, Leia pulled her off to the side. "We could be getting new stormtroopers any day now. A lot of them," she warned her friend. "Are we equipped to handle that, or do we ship them off to a prison planet until after this is all over?"

While Finn talked quietly with Connix, telling her where Sam's things were in the bag he'd brought with them, Kalonia tried to figure out how they were to deal with extra stormtroopers. "General—Leia—we can't just send them to a prison planet if they've done nothing wrong, so. Yes. We will be equipped to handle that." Perhaps she could round up some more staff, if she contacted the right senators, the ones on their side who had already offered to help any way they could. “Whatever we have to do.”

Leia nodded. "Of course—that’s—I leave that to you, Harter." Leia clasped her shoulder. "Thank you for—looking after us. I'll make sure Finn doesn't work too hard." She smiled.

"You had better."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seventy-five days before the wedding.

"HQ, this is Black Leader. Black Leader to HQ," came a voice crackling through the comlink.

Connix all but threw herself at the comlink station, leaving Sam with Finn. "Black Leader, this is HQ, confirm."

They exchanged codes, and then they could all hear the grin in Poe's voice. "Just checked in with Red Leader, they will be dropping out of their last jump in T-minus, ah, 17 minutes now. Targets are confirmed, we are green for go. Blue Squadron starting our approach, will coordinate objective at T-minus-18." There was a pause, with the official stuff out of the way. "Long-range scanners look good. Two Destroyers on the ground, sitting ducks." He sounded almost giddy, even over the comlink.

"Alright, Black Leader. No need to—" but Finn was interrupted by a screech as Sam heard Poe's voice and let him know he was listening. "Really, son?" Finn allowed as the whole command center burst into some timely laughter. "So Sam is here..." Finn said dryly.

"Hey, buddy!" Poe's voice cried, cutting out as he got too loud. "Your Papa's gonna bring you some pictures of Star Destroyers blowing up, how's that sound, huh, kiddo?"

"Black Leader, this is supposed to be an _official_ channel," Leia said wearily.

"Oh. Right. Okay. Gonna cut the channel, will re-establish before we go in."

"Roger that. Good luck, Poe."

While they waited for Poe to re-establish contact, Finn pretended to work when he was actually worrying, and Connix entertained Sammy and then took him briefly to change him. By the time she returned, they had all given up even the pretense of work, and were waiting for the crackle of Poe's voice over the comms.

"All right boys and girls, that is the all clear, we are green for go," Poe's voice said, for the benefit of everyone, before engaging in the usual chatter: "Gold Squadron, report in."

"Gold Leader—Pava, turn that music off."

"They're just _sitting_ there. I’m a little turned on by this."

"Shields at maximum."

This last one was Tova, who was flying a Y-wing on her first mission with Nova dropping their bombs. The former stormtroopers were absolutely _giddy_ at the power of their deflector shields, and didn't even mind how sluggish the Y-wings were compared to the TIEs they used to fly.

"All right, people, we know the drill. Strafing run, protect the bombers. Focus on the ships. We drop our payload and get out. TIEs first because they can get those in the air faster... _Holy hells_ there are a lot of them," Poe gasped, and the channel was briefly silent. "Okay, we're going in."  

When the silence was broken, this time, it was to the sound of blaster cannons, hoots and whoops, 'watch your six'es and distant explosions.

Finn never would get over the absolute terror of listening to Poe in a dogfight when he couldn't see him. The room was utterly silent except for the racket coming from the coms. It sounded like everything was going well, given the lack of nearby explosions, and then Tova cursed as their Y-Wing took a direct hit and wobbled precariously.

"It's okay—we’re okay. The shields are holding," Tova said shakily.

"Bombs away in three, two, one," Nova added, and there was a shriek as Tova wheeled the Y-Wing away from the planet's surface.

"YEAH! Gold-nine, that was beautiful! Take her around again!" Poe shouted. "And—Blue Squadron, we have company mark 237."

"Aww, no fair," said a quieter voice—that was Iolo. “All's quiet over here."

"Blue-Two, take point. Testor, cover me, I'm going at 'em."

"Of course you are."

"What was that?"

"I said 'right with ya, boss!'"

Now there were the sounds of dogfighting in earnest, and Sam began to fuss, mostly because Poe was yelling pretty consistently, and reports began coming in as to who took damage. There was some swearing as Poe benched a few wounded fighters and made them pull out—Solara and Nunb—while the Y-Wings made one more bombing run.

There was another huge crash, but "Whooo-hoo!" came a shout from Iolo, and the rest of Red Squadron soon joined in.

"That, ladies and gents, is what it looks like when you hit a Star Destroyer's fuel tank. Yeah, baby!"

"Sounds good, Red Squadron! Jump out of there."

"Need some help out there, Poe?"

"Bumblefluff. We got this. Gold group?"

"Out of bombs, sir. Did you just say ‘bumblefluff’?"

“…Yeah? What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing, Commander Bumblefluff, sir.”

“Bumblefluff-three, standing by.”

“I hate you all. We're going at 'em in a line, a nice clean strafe. Start your nav computers programming for lightspeed, and we're out of here."

"Roger, Bumblefluff Leader—POE PULL UP—shit, shit, fuck, gods damn you to hell, Poe!" Jessika cried, accompanied by a cacophony of explosions in the background. "Why would you do that to me? To us? Poe, I don't want your job! I'm telling Rey!"

The Command Center laughed at that, after confirming that though _Black One_ got a little cooked, they were all right.

"I hope you tell _everyone_ that I just hit their main fuel _line_. Speaking of which, this entire sector may go any minute, so, how's that lightspeed jump looking, Bee?"

[We are green for go! You kriffing maniac.]

"All Wings report in and jump."

They waited until every ship checked in before the Command Center burst into applause.

Sam, meanwhile, burst into hysterics—big, fat tears of fear rolling off his cheeks. He had _not_ enjoyed listening to—whatever that was. It was definitely too loud.

Finn wasn't sure what Poe had just done to scare both Jess and BB-8, but he was going to lecture him about it later. He did not appreciate being scared for Poe's life, no matter if it was for mere seconds, and he didn't appreciate that Sammy was almost inconsolable. Finn held him close, one hand rubbing his back. "Ssssh, it's okay buddy, he's alright. He's a little stupid, but he's alright. He'll be back soon," he whispered to the baby as he shifted enough to hug him closer under his chin.

"Come on, Major," Connix said, pushing Finn's hoverchair out into the hall where Sam could have his meltdown in relative peace. He was clinging to Finn desperately, in his own uncoordinated way, and still crying.

"There was a lot of yelling," Connix pointed out, rubbing his back as Sam hid his terror against Finn's neck. "It's okay, Sammy, you're okay. No one was yelling at you, sweetheart."

Eventually Sam's sobs quieted to little hiccupping whimpers, and he rested against Finn's chest, hand still clenched around his shirt. But when Finn tried to shift him in his arms, he whined again like he was going to start crying, and Finn stopped moving. "I'm sorry, buddy. We shouldn't have had you in there, with all that noise," he crooned as he scratched his back to soothe him. He looked up at Connix. "Since my hands are full, could you contact Timons and see if she can look after him for just a little while? Unless Leia can spare me," he said. Sam's breathing was evening out, the meltdown having taken its toll. He gave a sleepy yawn and burrowed closer to Finn.

"Um, sure. Yeah, I can do that," Connix said, and turned away to get on her comlink.

Sam blinked up at Finn, warbling wordlessly and trying out his hand on Finn's shirt. Daddy’s heartbeat felt best, really, and he cooed his appreciation, and then farted loudly.

Finn was still laughing when Connix turned back around. "Timons is on her way. She was, ah, really excited," she said with a grin, reaching forward to pet Sam's hair.

"Lieutenant! We need you in here!" came a shout from Statura. "And Major, as soon as you can."

"Go ahead. I'll wait for her—unless that will make her uncomfortable? Maybe you should stay?" Finn asked. He hadn't really interacted with Timons very much. She always seemed to be leaving just as he was arriving, though he knew she spent time with Rey, and Jess and some of the other women. He had no desire to upset her.

Connix frowned at that. "I think...she's supposed to be _trying_ , but you didn't hear that from me. If I see things going bad I'll come out," she promised. "But she was doing really well at breakfast and—I think she'd do anything for the sake of a little one." Connix rubbed Sam's head one more time and ran inside.

Finn didn't have to wait long before Timons rounded the corner: her face tightened as she saw Finn and no one else, but she walked determinedly forward.

"Hi," she said. "I—heard you needed—and I'm off-duty? Sort of?" She was supposed to be in the meeting to prepare for new stormtroopers, but Dr. Lan had said she could go if she felt uncomfortable at any point, and she had. "Oh, and Dr. Kalonia would like to see you in Conference Room 4, if you can make it." She shuffled her feet. "You want me to take him?" Maybe it was the hoverchair, but Finn didn't seem quite so threatening as he normally did to Timons (did that make her evil for thinking that?).

"Did she seem annoyed? I don't think I'm in trouble...I _hope_ I'm not in trouble." He sighed softly and then shrugged. Nothing for it now. "But yes, please, if you're not busy?" he asked, and gently shifted Sam away from his chest and into his arms so he could hand him to Timons.

Sam whimpered, which made Finn frown. "Oh, buddy, I'm sorry. But look, it's one of your favorite people! Wanna go see Timons? It'll be much quieter with her," he said. He gave Sam a kiss on the forehead. It hurt his heart when Sam cried, regardless of what he was crying about. But it was worse when he was upset because he wanted to stay with him and was being handed to someone else.

"I'll take very good care of him, sir," she said, bouncing Sam lightly and holding him the way he liked. "Um. You can comm me, sir. Any time. We could—go see Dr. Kalonia? Together? I think she wants you at her meeting. If you can be spared from this one." Timons even managed a grin. "Looks like you're very popular, sir.

" _Major_!" came a call from the Command Center, sounding more annoyed, and more like it was Leia this time.

Finn winced and waved for Timons to go ahead without him. "I'll catch up as soon as I can. Could you tell Dr. K. so she doesn't think I'm avoiding her?" he asked as he hovered his chair back toward the door, hesitant to provoke Leia's wrath by not responding promptly.

"Thank you, Major," Ematt was saying, nodding at Finn as he entered. "We were trying to decide where best to stage landings so as to give the maximum number of stormtrooper cadets the chance to be recovered. We of course aren't equipped to take on children here, but we could take teenagers and up."

"And we _want_ to get the younger ones away from the Order..." Statura offered, but he sounded rather helpless about it.

"Any suggestions?" the General demanded. "What could we do for twenty—much less a couple of hundred—brainwashed children?"

"Obviously we should just adopt all of them," Finn said, and then laughed at the assembled looks of shock around the table. "I'm joking,” he said, and thought carefully. “We could ask Maz. She might be able to take them in or find a network of people who can," he suggested.

"Maz the Pirate Queen?" Major Brance said worriedly. “I’m not sure trusting children to a pirate…”

"No, Finn's right. She's connected to the Force. If anyone could reach these kids, she could." Leia pursed her lips. "You know who's going to have to make that comm, right, Major?" she said, giving him a knowing look before continuing.  "I think we've decided to raid Endor first. I have—we have—old friends and good allies there," she said with a smile. "So I'll make that comm."

They talked details for another hour before Leia's comlink beeped. "Major Finn, go report to Dr. Kalonia. I think they need you more than we do. And—" she grimaced, taking him in in the hoverchair. "Get some _rest_ after that. When are you cleared for active duty, again?"

"Not soon enough," Finn grumbled. It was anyone's guess which would heal to Dr. K's satisfaction first—his feet, or his side. His feet were the more uncomfortable problem, at the moment, because they'd been torn to ribbons by running through the sands and had always been overly-sensitive. Walking on them _hurt_. And Kalonia was concerned that he had some residual stress on his heart from being electrocuted and suffocated—he was inclined to agree, with how quickly he grew tired. "Find me if you need me," he added on his way out the door.

Dr. Kalonia, as it turned out, wanted him for official SRTF matters—at the point he arrived, basically just approving their plans for reintegration of willing participants. Everything looked good, and afterward Dr. Kalonia actually _thanked_ him for all the work he was doing before she gave him his daily check-up.

“I should be thanking you,” Finn protested. “This is a team effort.”

Dr. Kalonia gave him a wry smile, but said nothing. "Take these," she instructed, changing the subject. "They won't make you sleep through Sam's crying, I promise. And I'm ordering you not to report for anything tomorrow until 0900. Okay? I'll get you out of that chair in a few days if you rest, because we need you, Finn," she had told him, and clasped his arm. "Do you want to sleep here?"

"I could help you get Sam ready for bed, sir," Timons said, and Sam gurgled happily to see his Daddy, and reached for him. Timons set him gently in Finn's lap. "He was very good and he's just had his diaper changed, and I fed him about an hour ago," she reported. She wasn't sure whether she trusted Finn or he just needed her help and deserved her respect, but she found herself wandering down the hall after him, not worried that she was alone with him in the least.

"I guess you better, since Rey and Poe aren't here and I'm supposed to be taking it easy," Finn said, and instead of leading the way to their room, went toward medical. Timons was tagging along behind him, and he slowed down to let her catch up. "Thank you for your help today. I think he would have only been unhappy in the Command Center," he told her. Sam giggled in his lap and stuffed Finn's sleeve in his mouth to drool on.

"It's— _really_ a pleasure," Timons said, "like, in the least creepy a way I can say that as possible." She sighed. "It's kind of lonely, with the civilians gone. Um. Do you need help?" she asked, when they were at a bed. "I could get the droids..."

Finn handed Sam to Timons so he could get up and step to the bed, stepping as lightly as possible on his still-tender feet. He sighed deeply. "That was a long day. Is there anything you need? Or something you'd like to help with, so you don't get lonely?" he asked Timons as she laid Sam down in the crib. He hoped this wouldn't cause her to shut down the way she so often did when he spoke to her. He'd never really seem Timons act quite this unconcerned around anyone but Rey, and maybe Jessika, Karé, and Connix.

"Um, no, no, thank you, sir," Timons said, avoiding eye contact but smiling. "Uh. It felt—good, what I did. And to know you will do good with that information. I—I’m very grateful." She turned away, looking about to leave, and then came back. "Ah. When you go to rescue the cadets, Major, the small ones? Do you think they would—would _you_ —clear me for Active duty for that?" For the first time she met his eyes.

"As long as you can tell me with complete honesty that you're ready, of course. We could use you, especially with the little ones. None of the rest of us ever worked a crèche rotation, as far as I know," Finn answered, meeting Timons' eyes so she would know that he was being completely honest. He looked over at Sam, who was babbling happily—fed, clean, not a care in the world except sleeping and getting plenty of snuggles from anyone he could wrap around his precious, tiny little fingers.

Timons brightened, and she straightened her spine. "Sir, yes sir!" she said. It felt a little silly, to be military-formal since she was wearing her new red lipstick, but she also kind of liked it. "Will you want help with Sam in the morning?" she asked, rolling the crib immediately next to the bed, so Finn could tend him and touch him without getting up.

"It's possible Poe will be back before morning. I'm not sure. Or Rey—but, yes please, in case they're not. Apparently I'm not to do anything remotely interesting before 0900, but he'll wake up before that. If you're bored and feel like watching him for a few hours..." Finn laughed, then, at the reality of two ex-stormtroopers watching a baby who had narrowly dodged the same life. It was a strange life they led... "And I'll talk to Rey when she and Luke get back about getting you assigned to the cadet rescues. Leia, too, if I have the chance." He gave an awkward respectful half-bow with his upper body that was more like an exaggerated nod. "Thank you again for your help."

"Thank you. Sleep well, sir," Timons said, and was about to slip out.

"Timons?" Finn stopped her. "Off-duty, you know, you really can call me 'Finn'."

Timons dipped her head. "Thank you, Finn. Good night."

...

For the next several days, through another bomb run by Blue and Red Squadrons and their Y-Wings and radio silence from Luke and Rey, Finn worked far more than he slept and Timons helped taking care of Sam when he couldn't have him in the command center.

He made a call to Maz Kanata, who was glad to help by taking on young stormtroopers—“But I can’t take _children_ , Finn,” she told him. “I run a cantina. No, any of them under twelve would be better off living on a military base or a Republic orphanage than here. Leia knows people, tell her to dig deeper, and to consider unlikely solutions,”—which left them with the problem of cadets to rescue and nowhere safe to put them.

Dr. Kalonia did finally give Finn permission to get rid of the hoverchair and he finished his antibiotics. Sometimes, he even managed to eat between all the meetings. On the bright side, when he had time to sleep, he slept like a rock, Sam permitting.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seventy-two days before the wedding.
> 
> This chapter is Explicit. Enjoy some smut on this Daylight Savings Time day.

Poe jumped down from _Black One_ , legs shaky from reintroduction to gravity. He smiled at the techs, glad to be back, and he and Tova and Nova met in between their two Starfighters to embrace. "Man, I'm so proud of you guys, you were amazing!" he exclaimed. "Welcome to the team!"

"Thanks, sir. Can we hit the freshers?" Nova asked, and Tova laughed at him.

"Yeah, of course. Check in with the Deck Officer first, you know the drill. I'm off to—"

It was with a cry that Poe found himself accosted, turned around, and dipped backward into a kiss.

"REY!" he exclaimed, when she let him up. "Rey, oh my gods, that felt good, I think you popped everything in my back, woo! I'm like an inch taller!" he laughed, light-headed as she let him back up, and then he picked her up and spun her around. "I really am tired that I didn't notice the, you know, giant _Millenium Falcon_ sitting right there."

"Glad we're both home. Where's Finn?" Rey said, and kissed him again.

"Sweetheart, please, I haven't brushed my teeth in days—"

"Let's go find Finn!"

"I have to debrief! Rey, please, give me fifteen minutes. Don't start without me."

"Okay, I’ll go with you, BB-8 will keep me company."

"Great. I'm sure they're sick of me."

[It is nearly 0100 local time. Friend-Finn is likely sleeping. As is Friend-Tiny-Sam. And no, I am not sick of you, Friend-Poe. You regularly become more amusing the longer we are out.]

"Well that's...good," Poe said, and made his way to the Command Center. Ackbar had the Conn, and the Mon Calamari nodded at Poe. "The General's asleep. Pilots are grounded for the next twelve hours, and then you're flying another mission. Make sure your people get rest, Commander. We'll debrief and brief you at the same time."

"Woo, twelve whole hours," Poe said, only a bit sarcastic, and popped a salute. "Thank you, Admiral." Then he turned to link arms with Rey. "How'd your mission go?" he asked as they made their way to their quarters.

"Fine. No obvious Dark Side, which is... _good_ ," though disappointing, "and we scouted good attack points. Where the shield generators are, and such. Scans are coming in from the _Falcon_."

"Great. That's great, Rey. Man, I'm so tired I'm dizzy, but I actually think it's because I'm so _happy_ , too."

They slunk into the room quietly, because Finn was asleep, and Poe took the fastest fresher he had ever taken and finally, finally, _really_ brushed his teeth, and while he was in the bathroom, Rey checked on Sam, who was sleeping soundly, sucking on his pacifier and wiggling his feet.

"We gonna wake him up?" Poe whispered, nodding at the sleeping Finn.

"Don't see how we can't, if we want to sleep in bed," she said, and then giggled.

"You go first. We wake him up from a nightmare, you're fighting him this time."

Rey snorted. "Don't worry, darling, I'll protect you."

They could joke about it now, because Finn hadn't had a nightmare, much less a PTSD-triggered one, in months.

Finn was surprised awake by a gentle touch and soft kisses pressed to his forehead, neck, and chest. He made a sleepy noise of confusion and opened his eyes, then smiled brightly.

"Rey!" he exclaimed quietly and then threw his arms clumsily around her, wondering if his dreams had finally added touch, sound and smell to them.

Poe rolled on top of them gently, pressing Rey and Finn beneath him, and quieting Finn's exclamation. "Shh," he whispered, once Finn was thoroughly distracted from the kiss. "You're gonna wake the kid." And, well, since he was here by Finn's ear, he started nibbling and kissing it, and threading his fingers through Rey's hair. "Missed you both so much," he murmured.

"I missed you both, too," Rey added, pressing words to Finn's skin like kisses. "So glad to be home."

Home was wherever they were.

"Everything go okay?" Finn asked, but they were distracting, and he wriggled in delight at having Rey and Poe both where he could see them and hug them close and kiss them—or…try. It was difficult to do anything with Poe on top of them.

"Everything was _great_ , you heard," Poe said, nipping at Finn's ear and reaching down to scratch Finn's arm where it was pinned beneath him. Rey was smelling his hair, enjoying the feeling of sliding her skin against his.

"Feels like I was gone for longer. No big finds." She rolled onto her side and wound a hand through Poe's hair; Poe moved his hand down around her waist and squeezed.

"Feels like you two were gone forever!" Finn laughed. "Timons helped me with Sam until Dr. K let me lose the hoverchair." He purred wordlessly while Poe scratched his arm. His other hand he brushed down Rey's back along her spine, pressing his fingertips into the muscles over her ribs. When his hand met Poe's, he laced their fingers together.

"How's the kid been? Not too much for you?" Poe kissed down Finn's body until he found a new scar on his side, still tender and barely knit together. He kissed it gently. "Does it hurt still?"

"Never too much. He's perfect," Finn said. He shivered when Poe kissed the newest of his wounds. It tickled, the healing nerves oversensitive to touch. "Only if I overdo it," he answered, and then chuckled softly, "And I won't pretend I never overdo it. But Dr. K. is satisfied that it's healing well."

"Finn," Rey growled, and bit Finn's ear in a less than erotic way. "You're going to take it _easy_ now we're here," she said.

 _Yeah, for a whole twelve hours at least_ , Poe thought to himself, but didn't say. "Gonna keep you in this bed for the next _ten_ hours, easily," he promised, kissing across his stomach and down to his hip, slipping the briefs down off Finn's hips.

Finn grumbled and turned his head so his ear was out of harm's way. "I had to help! We've all been working..." he growled. "And Sam needed some quiet time, sometimes. It was more important than sleeping the extra couple hours." It was possible he was using Sammy as a partial excuse—but this was also true, because Sam did need time with his Dad at the end of every day. "Anyway I know _you_ both worked too much, too." He leaned up to kiss Rey and nipped at her lower lip in retaliation for the biting.

Rey moaned softly: Finn was very good at distracting her. "Yeah, but neither of us were recently stabbed.”

"Rey, please don't mention stabbing when I haven't seen my betrotheds in days," Poe huffed, kissing between Finn's thighs, teasing.

"And what about _this_ is taking it easy?" Finn asked lazily as heat curled in his stomach. He kissed Rey again. "I don't think you laying on top of me counts as taking it easy, either," he added to Rey, his voice daring them to do something about it.

"Oh, you're not going to do anything," Rey hummed, scratching both of Finn's arms in a soothing motion while kissing across his neck, leaving an occasional bite mark or hickey that was the exact opposite of relaxing. “You’re going to take it… _very_ easy.”

And if Poe opened his mouth to take Finn’s cock in his mouth, well, it ended in a yawn, so loud and pronounced that Rey and Finn burst into quiet giggles.

"Hey, I've got this," he insisted, kissing Finn's belly and giving him a tentative lick. "Gonna just—fall asleep with your cock in my mouth. That's not gonna be a problem, is it?" But he was already sucking gently on the head, moaning softly in— _relief_ , honestly, because he had  _missed_ this.

"No of course not, why would falling asleep with my cock in your mouth after you’ve gotten me hard ever be a problem?" Finn snapped. But he was already past the point of no return just from the gentle sucking, frustratingly not enough and just enough both at the same time, and he had missed the way Poe and Rey knew exactly how to take him apart, even when they had to go slow and be careful of healing injuries. He whined softly and looked up at Rey. "That feels so good," he told her as she scratched up and down his arms. She smiled down at him and kissed him—a sweet, gentle kiss that made him melt into a little puddle.

"I know," she hummed, "and between you and me I think Poe has an oral fixation—" which made Poe laugh and choke, and he pulled off, wiping spit from his chin.

"Don't make me laugh when I'm satisfying my oral fixation, dear," he laughed, and covered his head and Finn's lower half with a blanket so he could be alone with Finn's cock, so he could _focus_ . "Gonna take my time with you," he murmured, for this was a labor of love and surely he wasn't _that_ tired but the dark and warmth and smell of Finn (and Rey, okay, Rey was naked down here, too, and just because she was asexual it didn't make her smell any less good to _him_ ) soon lulled him into _I'll just rest my head here on his comfy thigh and finish him with a handjob_ so that in a few minutes Poe was _out_.

Finn laughed softly as he realized that Poe hadn't actually spoken or...moved in the past several minutes, and must therefore be asleep. His laugh turned into a groan. Rey had curled against his side as was her habit, and she stirred when he laughed. "I, uh, think Poe has fallen asleep," Finn told her, and she shifted the blanket to check.

"Yes he has.” Rey laughed, without pity, and kissed him. "You're going to have filthy dreams tonight, both of you," she teased in Finn's ear, giggling at his restlessly shifting hips. "And I'd help you out, but Poe's face is kind of in the way..." she said, trying not to snort while she laughed.

Finn whimpered, cursing Poe's ability to sleep through anything if tired enough. He found one of Rey's hands and brought it to his lips to kiss softly. "You're lucky I love you so much," he grumbled, raising his head to beg more kisses. It was his only consolation, if Poe was going to get him hard and then fall asleep and leave Rey to giggle at him about it.

Rey hummed and kissed him gently. "I should get better at dirty talk," she said. "So I could help you finish without touching you. Like Poe always threatens to do and then never does because he can't keep his hands off of you." She grinned and nosed against his neck. "Seriously, you want me to wake him up?"

Finn really did, but, " _No_ , he needs the sleep.” He sighed and lifted the blanket. “And look at him—he’s so content. I'll live." Eventually his body would realize there was nothing remotely exciting going on. But Rey was right—he was probably going to have filthy dreams of all the things he'd like to do to Poe, or like Poe to do to him. "You should sleep too, sunshine," he told Rey, turning his head to nuzzle her cheek.

"Okay," she said, curling around them both, tucking in close. She could feel Finn's breath and Poe's pulse. "Love you," she whispered. "And I like your dreams. Even your filthy ones." Rey had a smile on her face as she closed her eyes. "Have sweet ones."

…

They were awoken the next morning (and throughout the night) by Sam, and Poe concluded that having a kid was definitely the worst for one's sex life, and he cursed himself for falling asleep, because Finn definitely did not let him try to start anything else that night. They didn't even have time for anything in the refresher, because they all had meetings and briefings and debriefings.

“And not the fun kind of debriefing,” Poe added as they were getting dressed.

…

_Seventy days before the wedding._

...

It soon became apparent that taking care of an infant during a war, even if he had three parental units, was becoming...difficult.

"Okay, do we take him to my dad's? Rey or I could drop him _en route_ to somewhere," Poe said. He wondered if his own parents felt half this shitty for doing the same with him, but Poe doubted it, because Sam was much cuter than his baby pictures said he was.

Finn, who was currently holding (and tickling) a squirming, giggling Sam, frowned. He didn't like the idea of their son being so far away, and Rey seemed even more uncertain:

"What if he thinks we're not coming back?" she asked quietly. Finn frowned at the sadness underlying that question, and went to her, bending to kiss her hair.

"Kes won't let him believe that. He already loves him, and we can call them sometimes." Finn shook his head, unable to think of any other solution. "I don't love it...but he really hates the command center, and he can't come along when we're going off to battles. And there's no one here to take care of him," Finn said.

Poe nodded, biting his lip. "It wouldn't be for long, remember. Much shorter than I was without my parents, but—" he chuckled. "This is why you don't have a kid during a war. Right, Sammy? We are both accidents, aren't we? Gonna start a Handsome Accidents club, aren't we, buddy?" he teased, kissing Sam's head, making him screech in delight, dropping his pacifier and releasing a wave of drool. "I mean, Timons would be an excellent nanny-governess, but, like, we need _her_ , too." He sighed. "We haven't reconnoitered Dantooine yet, so I could swing him by dad's place."

"Actually, we could take him," offered a voice, and they all jumped as Luke appeared in the _Falcon_.

"With all due respect, sir, you should knock. We could have been having sex on the holochess table," Poe pointed out.

"Eh, that holochess table has seen worse," Luke replied pleasantly, and Poe got his elbows off it, pulling a face.

"I was going to say, Rey, I wanted to visit a few of the Temples on Yavin IV, _anyway_...if I can get the clearance from my sister."

Finn bounced Sammy in his arms. "What do you think, Sammo? Wanna go hang out with your grandpa for awhile?" he asked the baby, who was still drooling happily. As if in answer, Sam paused to stuff his hand in his mouth thoughtfully.

"Dad will take great care of him. You know, it's almost karmic, making him care for a baby since he shoved me off on my grandparents as a baby." Poe winked at his beloveds, rubbing Sam's back.

"It's also been a long time since I have seen Kes," Luke added. "It would be good to see him again."

"Watch those two," Poe told Rey in a stage-whisper. "They'll want to hold a Wake for Han, and you don't want to see two old dudes get plastered and cry," he teased, but gently, because Poe did kind of want to see that. Hells, he wanted to take part in it.

"And I'll get to meet Kes," Rey said brightly. "What do you think will be in the Temples, Master Skywalker?"

Luke shrugged, which was what he did when he wanted to be mysterious. "Well, some of them were used for our Jedi school, so there will probably be some old equipment. The temples themselves often have carvings on the inside, and you'll like the uppermost levels—at least a couple of them have been turned into gardens, as I recall. The one I'm especially interested in contained many of our texts—I need to do some research," he said.

Sam was reaching for him, and he was happy to take over holding him for a moment. His Padawan's child was very cute, and very endearing. The baby liked to cling to his beard. "You'll love Kes, little one. I believe he is quite prepared to spoil you completely as soon as he gets the chance." He saw Rey smile out of the corner of his eye and glanced up at the little family before him with a small smile.

Poe smiled. "I'll make the comm then," he said, standing up. His joints were creaking and, oh, he did _not_ want to get back into a cockpit in three hours, but that was when they were leaving.

Sam reached up thoughtfully and tugged on Luke's beard, though, which made everyone laugh. "And it will also be good to visit the Tree," Luke said, and Poe stopped at the door.

"That's not ever going to be, like, a target, is it?" Poe was asking before he knew he was speaking. So sue him, he was worried about his dad.

Luke frowned. "I don't know that the First Order is bold enough yet. I'm hoping with our work that they'll cease to be before they grow bold enough."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks as always for reading! Here we're getting into a series of missions that could each be their own short stories, but we've elected to give you large sections here with self-contained (or nearly so) adventures contained in one chapter rather than make you wait for lots of smaller updates. 
> 
> In return, we hope you'll bless us with your feedback! <3

_Sixty-seven days before the wedding._

...

Rey left with Luke and Sam a few days later in the _Falcon_ , leaving a moping Finn and Poe behind.

There had been tears.

But once they were out of the atmosphere, Rey went to pick Sam up and comfort him, since he appreciated neither the noise nor the jostling of takeoff.

Eventually his sobs subsided and he consented to being carried to the holochess table, where he sat in Rey's lap and clung to her shirt, noticing the absence of his fathers. "I know, baby. I don't like it much either," she told him as she cuddled him close to her belly.

"Rey," Luke said, sitting across from her. His face was grim, though he reached out to tickle Sam's chin.

"I, ah, didn't want to say this in front of Poe, but—I _am_ somewhat worried the Tree in his backyard could become a target. Our increased attacks on the First Order should be keeping them busy, but it also might make them feel backed into a corner, and if Ren needs more— _power_ , or knowledge, he might go to Yavin IV for it." He waited, sure she was not going to like hearing this.

Rey's eyes snapped up at Luke and she curled protectively over Sam. "What about Kes? And Sam? Why didn't you tell Poe when he asked? You _lied_ to him!" she said. How could Luke have lied to her, and to Poe and Finn? About _this_? “I’m not taking my son there if it’s a target.”

Luke held up both hands placatingly. "We're not going to _leave_ them there as long as the planet remains unprotected," Luke promised. "As important as that Tree is, Kes and Sam are far more important to me, I promise you. And as for why I didn't tell Poe, I feared he would react—well, like you're reacting right now, so I don’t know why I bothered, honestly.” He grinned sheepishly. “Seriously, though. When we're done, it should be the safest place in the galaxy for Sam."

“How?” Rey demanded.

Luke straightened up. "Okay, you're going to laugh," Luke said. "But don't laugh. There's a...ritual of...protection." He waited. "Oh, good, you didn't laugh. I thought it sounded dumb. Um, the library has all the old Force rituals, and between the both of us, the power of the Temples and the power of the grown Force Tree, we should be enough to keep the Dark side from penetrating the area." He waited again. "I promise I'm still sane. And when that’s in place—unless Snoke himself shows up—"

"They'll be safe? Kes and Sammy?" Rey asked, kissing the downy head that still rested close to her chest. Sam was holding onto her for dear life, and her heart was already breaking at having to leave him—she wouldn't do it unless she was certain he would be okay. "I know I'm being paranoid. Of course I'll do whatever I can to make sure they're both protected from the First Order," she told Luke.

"Right," Luke said. "The plan is to make the place safer or...or, well, we’ll encourage emigration. I would not dare leave Sam anywhere where he is no safer than in your arms, Rey, I promise you."

…

_Sixty-five days before the wedding._

...

Kes Dameron knew they were coming, but it still brought tears to his eyes to see the _Millennium Falcon_ herself landing in his nerf pasture, upsetting the cows, and to see Luke Skywalker looking so old, and "Ah, mija, Rey, oh Rey, my beautiful daughter," he said, all but running to the ramp and pulling her into a warm embrace. "Rey, oh! And Sam, my little Sammito, sweetheart. Oh, it's so good to have you _here_."

Rey laughed, tears springing to her eyes at the sight of Kes waiting for them. Like Poe, Kes was a hugger, but unlike Poe, Kes was broad and tall, his salt-and-pepper hair his only sign of age. He didn't look a day past fifty, having aged better than Luke or Leia, Rey thought privately. She didn't remember her father's hugs, but in Kes' there was a warmth and kindness she hadn't expected.

"It's so good to meet you," she told him once he had let her go to greet Sam, and then Luke. For his part, Sam seemed intrigued by this new person, and he babbled thoughtfully in Rey's arms.

"Ah, no no, dear, we've already met, you're already my daughter," Kes said, hugging her again. "And this is already my grandbaby. Got my name and everything! Look at how strong you are, my boy?—Oh, uh hi, Luke—my cutest tiny baby—I’m just kidding, General, how are you?—" Kes asked, finally looking up.

Luke held up a hand. "Luke, please. I'm _not_ kidding. It's good to see you, Sergeant."

Kes laughed. "Listen to this guy! 'Call me Luke, Sergeant.'" He cackled a bit madly. "Enchilada sauce has been on all day, come in, come in."

Kes beckoned them across the pasture, through a gate, and down a short lane through foliage to another wide patch of grass, and then to a small house. It was sprawling and well-lit and homey. The kitchen and dining space were crowded by a large table set with too many chairs, including one baby chair. "I know he's too small for it, but I got excited and got it out of the shed! Let me make you each a plate and then, if you and Sam agree, I can take him. You haven't had anything like these before. You like spicy?" he asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"Ohhh, Kes," Luke groaned. "I'm getting too old for this."

"Shut up, you love it, Skywalker. Put hair on your chest."

Rey laughed, seeing something of her husband-to-be in his father's gentle teasing of Luke. It wasn't so different than watching Poe and Finn tease each other—or, watching Poe tease his pilots. She took a seat at the table and sat Sammy in her lap where he could gleefully try to grab the nearest cutlery. "I like spicy food!" she chirped. "And Poe's cooking—he says you taught him to cook. Could you teach me to cook, too?" she asked.

Kes turned around and clutched at his heart dramatically, splattering red sauce everywhere. "Mija! You know just the way to an old man's heart! Of course I will teach you! Later, though, when this Empire-Mk-II-nonsense is over and we have the time. This trip, you eat, you let me spoil you, and you let me hold this precious boy," he said, holding out his arms for the bundle of Sam.

Sam, luckily, was more than happy to go meet this smiling new stranger who made his mom laugh and reminded him of Luke and of his Papa. He reached up and patted the man's face with his hand, which was luckily not overly slobbery. "He drools like crazy, so watch out," Rey laughed as he blew a couple spit bubbles.

"That's all right, look at this kiddo! Yeah, is this my Sammito?" He asked, tucking him against his shoulder. "Drool all you want, little buddy, your grandpa still loves you."

Kes beamed at Rey. "I think we'll take good care of each other. Sam will help me with all the wedding preparations! You'll have to meet, oh gods, all my sisters and cousins are having a field day planning this wedding. It's a good thing you and Finn are so easy going, but I'm sure Poe will throw a fit when he doesn't get his way. Groomzilla, you heard it here first." He laughed. "I think all the important parts will work out, though, you know."

Kes sat down with his own plate, but clearly he had already eaten, because he hadn't touched it by the time Rey had finished hers. "So, why are you here?" he suddenly asked Luke.

Luke laughed and then sighed. "There's no fooling you, huh?” He set down his fork, needing to pace himself with this spicy food. “I'm worried about the Tree, Kes—and the Temples, and you and Sam. We don't want to leave you unprotected while we have the Order on the ropes like this. They might lash out, do something stupid."

Kes was looking patiently from Rey to Luke, so Rey continued. "We think—Luke thinks, and I mostly listen to him—" Luke cleared his throat pointedly, "—sometimes. Anyway, there's a ritual." But both Luke and Kes were giving her looks of amusement, so she stopped, frowning.

"As she said, she listens _sometimes_. There's an old ritual that will activate a sort of Force protection around most of the planet. Render the Dark side less powerful here," Luke continued.

"Unless they have another super-weapon and blow up the whole planet, presumably," Kes said, heating up a bottle for Sam. "Anyway, I'm flattered you think my enchiladas are so good that they need Jedi protection. I know this is the real reason for the theatrics." He winked. "Do your Jedi thing—" he waved a hand, splattering formula everywhere. "Oh! There's flan for dessert!"

Luke smiled and stood, motioning to Rey to follow him. "We'll see the Tree first, if that's alright," he said, and Kes waved him off with a laugh.

"Go, go, see the old Tree and do what you must, and then come back for flan. Sam and I will spend some time getting acquainted!" he told them, for Sam seemed happy enough to hang onto him, especially while he was doing interesting things like cooking. Rey smiled at them both, already missing having Sam nearby, but followed Luke out the back door of the old house. At least there was no need for goodbyes just yet.

"It was only a little sapling when I brought it here," Luke explained as he led the winding way through the house like he knew exactly where he was going. The house was chaotic and it looked like they were passing through a bedroom or something to get to the outside. "So the Tree is about as old as Poe is, I guess. _My_ , they have been taking care of it," he said, and when they stepped out into the warm, noisy night, there was a sprawling tree ahead of them that seemed to glow faintly.

Rey paused to look at the tree, her breath catching in her throat at the sight of it. "It's... It's enormous," she said. And it was beautiful, tall and strong and _glowing_ , a comforting presence, like coming home. She smiled at the tree and followed Luke toward its broad trunk.

Luke smiled, as full of wonder and delight as Rey looked, and part of him was glad Kes wasn't here to see how desperately giddy this was making him. "Yes, it's doing so well."

He blinked rapidly, for no reason, or too many. He thought of Shara Bey, here, and then of all his students, and then Obi-Wan and Han and—here he could almost feel them like they weren't really gone. "This Tree helps me to remember that all life in the Force is bound together. Dark and Light, alive and dead, and lives yet unborn."

Rey glanced at Luke, wondering who he thought of when he spoke of those who were gone. She touched his sleeve wordlessly, an awkward gesture of sympathy and support, and stepped closer to the tree. It seemed at once more real and more ethereal than its surroundings, but when she went to lay a hand on the bark, it was as rough and gnarled as any normal tree. Its presence, though, felt intoxicating, like she could sit and lean on the trunk or climb the branches and watch the world for hours and not have to worry about anything else. She already felt some of the tension she carried so constantly relaxing away. Her mind was silent and still, but she wasn't meditating. She looked around for Luke to see if he felt it as well, blinking somewhat owlishly.

And then Rey was halfway up the Tree before she realized what she was doing, clambering into its lowest branches, which drew her up into the stars. Luke only smiled, and sat down on an overturned bucket, and closed his eyes to meditate.

Almost immediately, Rey was as high as she could go, but didn't feel embarrassed about it. She remembered Poe saying he used to climb the Force Tree, didn't he? It felt wonderful up here, and she could see how this would make a pilot of anyone—the stars were so clear and close up here. She could almost hear them singing.

_"Sam?" she heard a voice call from the house, and it was Finn, standing in the doorway. "Sammy, have you seen the girls? Need you to go find your Papa and your sisters for me." He was wearing an apron._

_"Rey?" her vision of Finn laughed. "Rey, get down from there, dinner's almost ready, come on, it’s going to be cold..."_

Rey smiled, and sighed, clinging to the branches as the vision faded. Was it just wishful thinking, or part of her future?

"Rey?" And then Kes was at the door, holding Sam and laughing. "Rey, get down from there! I didn't know you two were going to spend all night out here. This flan won't eat itself..."

Luke was smiling up at her, and offered her a hand down. The light from the tree reflected in his eyes.

Rey pouted for only a moment before dropping back down through the branches and swinging to the ground as easily as if she'd been doing it her whole life. She grinned at Luke as she used her grip on his hand to steady herself. Before returning to Kes and Sam, she gave the Tree an affectionate pat.

"Poe said it was incredible, but I didn't quite expect _that_ ," she admitted when they rejoined the other two. Sam babbled, happy to see her but not unduly disturbed that she had been out of sight, and she took him from Kes as they went inside. _Sisters_ , the vision-Finn had said. If it was true, that must mean at least two more children, adopted, probably.

She nuzzled the top of Sammy's head, and he sighed and burrowed happily against her chest as if he might fall asleep. It made her heart hurt, the thought of leaving him, of not being able to rock him to sleep at night. Looking at his face, she found her eyes were going blurry with unshed tears.

"Hey, mija, it's okay," Kes said softly, touching her shoulder, inviting but not demanding a hug. "I know, I wanted to die when we left Poe with Shara's parents. I thought—nothing could be more important than being with my baby boy." He rubbed Sam's back, too, and when Rey leaned into him, he drew her into a hug.

"I said, _yes_ , this boy _is_ worth more to me than the whole galaxy, more than stopping Vader and the Empire. And Shara (she was the smart one, you know, Shara), she said to me, 'Dameron' she said (military life, I tell you what, Poe didn't know my first name wasn't 'Sergeant' until he was seven!) 'Dameron, he may be more important than the whole galaxy, but if we're not out there fighting for him, there won't _be_ a galaxy for him to live in when he grows up.'" Kes smiled and patted her cheek. "I know you want to give that boy the galaxy, mija. But you have to go and save it, first."

Rey sighed, feeling herself strain under the weight they all carried. So much could go wrong... And she was used to being scared for herself, so much so she hardly noticed, but she was not sure she would ever be accustomed to being scared for the people she loved. It was... _wearying_. For a moment, she just leaned on Kes, accepting his sympathy and his wisdom and his support. Then she took a deep breath, pulling her broken pieces back together, and nodded.

"Thank you, Kes. I'm sorry—the flan is probably getting cold!" she said, wiping the last few tears out of her eyes and off her cheeks.

Kes laughed. "Ah, my boy's been spoiling you, I see. As he should be! But no, the flan _is_ cold, I made it yesterday." He kissed her hair and moved to the conservator, all restless energy. "It's just as good cold, though!" He promised with a laugh, pulling it out and serving generous portions. "So, you'll be out at the Temples tomorrow, I guess? Home for supper? I'm glad to feed you again before you go. And you'll see how well Sam and I will get along, so you don't feel bad leaving." Kes sat down with his plate, and then leapt up again to make coffee— _real_ coffee that smelled amazing.

"Kes, no, I can't, I won't sleep," Luke complained, but Kes only sprinkled cinnamon over the top of the drink and shushed him, gently setting the mug in front of him.

Rey smiled at the teasing between Kes and Luke as she ate her flan and eventually accepted a coffee from Kes. It was bitter, and she nearly spit it out until she realized she didn't actually hate the taste. She hummed thoughtfully and took another sip, letting it warm her from the inside. "Is this what caf is supposed to taste like?" she asked, and then took another sip. She never drank it in the mess hall, though Finn and Poe liked it.

Kes laughed. "It is better here, no?" he told her. "I'll send you home with some."

They talked and ate quietly, until Kes guided them through the house to where they would sleep. Kes gave up his bed to Luke and slept in a guest bed, and then he led Rey to Poe's old bedroom, which was kept just as he'd left it before he went to the Academy. "He tries to make me redecorate it when he comes home, and I always tell him 'it's your room!'" Kes laughed.

The room was painted blue, and the ceiling was covered with stars, and the walls decorated with faded pictures of starships draped with embarrassingly scantily clad women. There were small pictures on every other surface: some of Poe—who had shockingly bad hair as a teenager—with what must have been childhood friends or relatives, and a few of Kes and Shara. The place was thick with knick-knacks, toys and models and souvenirs from various planets. There was a charging port for BB-8, and it made Rey miss the droid.

"I _did_ move Poe's old crib in. I didn't have time to make one for Sam, but he is gonna get his own, soon," Kes said apologetically, gesturing at a handmade and beautifully carved wooden crib. "And the sheets are fresh. Light's here, bathroom's next door. You need anything, mija?"

Rey looked around the room and then turned and gave her future father-in-law a hug. "Thank you," she said, and Sam whined because he was being squished, and Rey stepped back.

"Sammy, look! It's Papa's old crib!" she said to him, and leaned down so he could reach for it with his slobbery fist. "Sweet boy, my Sammy," she murmured as she set him down gently. She kissed the top of his head and turned back to Kes. "It's perfect, Kes. Thank you," she said again.

Kes beamed and pulled Rey into a proper hug once Sam was put down. "I am so glad you are here," he said. "So glad you're going to be my daughter, and so glad you let me have some time with my grandbaby." Then he held her out at arm-length and looked into her eyes. "And I am so glad you are out there saving the galaxy, with my son, and my biological son," he said with a warm smile. He pulled up two chairs and sat down, rocking Sam's crib gently and motioning for Rey to sit. "I have gathered, I suppose, that you have no living parents?"

Rey hesitated, then nodded.

"So you may not know that what you're feeling—all your feelings right now—they are normal?"

Rey chuckled a little ruefully. "Honestly, I was never sure _I'd_ survive this long, much less meet Poe and Finn, and we certainly never expected Sammy. I don't have the slightest idea how to be a parent. So it's a lucky thing Poe and Leia and Luke are around," she said. Sam was already out like a light, his face peaceful. "It...scares me, sometimes, what I would do for him. For any of them, but especially for Sam, because he can't do anything for himself. I'm afraid I'll unbalance the Force or something," she admitted to her clasped hands where they rested in her lap. "Old Jedi weren't allowed to have children or spouses. Obi-wan worries, even though I don't think Luke does. Much," she added quietly.

"Oh, Luke always—wait, _Obi-Wan_?" Kes yelped, which made Sam stir and fuss before he nodded off again. "Isn't he—? You see, I told Poe not to get messed up with Jedi business," he muttered, and then laughed.

"Says the guy with a Force tree in his backyard?" Rey ventured, and this time Kes covered his mouth to laugh.

"Okay, you've got me there. Anyway, neither did Shara and I, know how to parent, I mean, and Poe turned out mostly fine. We relied a lot on Shara's parents, and mine. Poe's Nana lives on the property, you'll meet her tomorrow. That's my mom. She’s, ah, getting old. Says crazy things. Shara's parents come by often, though I'm _trying_ to not let them fly much anymore... they're in their eighties, you know. But you can't take flying away from a Bey." He smiled fondly. "Anyway. You can rely on us. Even the crazy ones."

"Poe mentioned he knows how to deal with kids because he has a bunch of cousins," Rey said, engendering this from one of their conversations. "I know Sam will be okay—we have your help, and so many other people have offered help, of course, but it's still...overwhelming. I didn't know I could love people so much!" Rey laughed, because it sounded so ridiculous when she said it out loud. But sometimes she thought she might combust. Sometimes she'd awaken at night and her affianced would be tangled together and sleeping, and Sam would be a softly breathing bundle in his cradle, and she'd have to stop and remember to breathe.

"It's scary, isn't it?" Kes said, squeezing her hand. "Sometimes it makes you feel like you can't breathe, or like you would do whatever you thought was most despicable just to protect them." He shook his head. "That struggle will make you a better woman, not a worse one. No matter what the old Jedi said." He winked. "Don't tell my Tree I said that." Kes stood up, patted her head, and left her in the room to sleep. Sam had stuffed his nubbin in his mouth and was sucking happily on it, and cooed, and then farted.

Rey laughed.

…

_Sixty-four days before the wedding._

…

Rey surprised herself by sleeping well that night. Perhaps tired from the day's excitement, even Sammy slept through the night, and only awoke when the sun rose and lit the room. His fussing woke Rey and she went to his crib to pick him up. He needed his diaper changed, which she could now manage half-asleep. He gave her a piece of his mind about it, as usual, but quickly forgave her when she finished and picked him up, bouncing him in her arms.

They went into the kitchen, Rey singing a silly nothing song, to find that it was already occupied—and not, presently, by Kes.

There was an old woman in the kitchen, stirring a pot of some kind of hot cereal, and they both started and stared at one another.

"Who are you?" she asked shrilly, and then seemed to come to herself. "Oh, no, no, wait. You're going to be my granddaughter-in-law! Now I thought Poe was going to marry a man. Or an alien—?"

"Mama!" Kes snapped, rushing into the room carrying two empty buckets and already sweating. "Mama, we've told you, you can't say things like that! Morning, Rey!"

"Well anyway, I'm glad it was just a phase.”

“Mama, he’s still marrying a man, too—”

“Who's this, then? Is this my great-grandbaby Sam?" she asked.

Kes rolled his eyes, giving Rey an apologetic look. "Of course she can't forget _that_ part. Yes, Mama, that's Sam. He's Finn's clone. You know, Finn? Poe's _other_ fiancé?"

"Why's he need two? Making up for lost time, I suppose!"

"Mama, why don't you hold the baby? She's fine," Kes assured Rey. "Just forgets things. Mama, you embarrass me," he said, and they had a quick conversation in Yavinese.

"I'm sorry, Rey, my dear," the woman said. "Call me Nana, like Poe. Let me see my great-grandbaby! I'm too young to be a great-grandma!"

Rey watched the exchange between Kes and his mother a little warily, trying not to laugh, but the older woman seemed kind, although Rey was fairly certain she didn't entirely understand the nature of the relationship between her grandson and his two affianced. Sam seemed happy enough to meet her, so Rey handed him off.

"His dad and his papa would have liked to come with us. Poe misses Yavin, and Finn wants to see it so bad..." she said as Sam babbled happily to Poe's Nana.

"Well, I'm glad you're here, my dear," Nana said, rocking Sam with expert care and a strength that belied her otherwise frail appearance. "Are you hungry? There's caf and porridge, and the rest of the family will be here any minute to discuss the wedding..."

"Real caf _and_ porridge! You're spoiling me," Rey laughed. She didn't have to be told twice. After preparing a bottle for Sam that could be heated when he was hungry, she ladled a bowl of porridge for herself, and poured a mug of caf. She returned to the table and looked to Poe's grandmother. "Wait, so...what about the wedding? We're talking about the wedding?" she asked in some confusion.

"Isn't that why you're here?" the old woman asked, in spite of Kes trying to explain that she was here in fact on Jedi Business with Luke Skywalker.

This was the wrong thing to say, of course, because that was _witchcraft_ apparently, and she didn't want Rey getting mixed up in it and getting her grandson mixed up in it. Luke showed up just in time to hear the old woman say she didn't believe Luke Skywalker even existed, and Luke was forced to agree with her.

Chaos broke out when three men and two women arrived (with a gaggle of children in tow, so mixed up that Rey never figured out to whom they belonged). Some of the adults were Kes' nephews and nieces, and some were Shara's, apparently, and they were somewhere between Poe’s age and Rey and Finn's age—

"After war baby boom," one called Breha told her, in a semi-private moment created by a small argument elsewhere. "Poe was the oldest when we were kids. My mom Sareena is his mom’s sister. It's okay if you don't remember that, though." The family was warm and inviting, and in spite of being overwhelmed by questions, Rey felt as if she had known them her whole life the way they kissed and hugged her, and played with Sam.

Breha looked between Rey and Luke conspiratorially. "I'm here to be your guide up to the Temples, however, so whenever you want to bug out give me the word." She grinned.

Rey gave Breha a grateful smile. If one more person asked her how she felt about place settings or flowers, she was probably going to either cry or shout, neither of which was really the correct response.

"I'm ready when you are," Luke answered with a bright smile. Rey got the feeling he'd kind of enjoyed the overwhelming, well-meaning way Poe's family had so kindly welcomed them, even if Kes' mother was sure he didn't exist.

"Rey, what about the music! Poe didn't tell us—hey, where did she go?" That was Malin, Kes' oldest sister, and Kes giggled impishly and shrugged, holding a gurgling Sam.

"The Jedi work in mysterious ways," he said. "Now come on, Sammito needs to meet his cousins..."

...

"There's nothing that can't be decided a month before a wedding, or even a few weeks. Tano and I were only engaged a month—I got pregnant, what can you do—and they treated it like we'd practically eloped," Breha was explaining, huffing a little, as the ground got immediately steep once they passed Kes' property. "So, my mom lives a city over, but grandma lives just up this road here. Twenty minute walk, maybe five by speeder or horse. It'll take us about three hours to reach the Temples, if you want to reconsider taking a donkey or something."

Luke stopped, and pulled a face. He seemed to remember Yavin being a lot smaller when he was a younger man, and he was already flushed. "I would say it would build character, but I don't know if we'll be up to walking three hours to home by the time we've finished... I don't suppose there's a speeder handy?" Luke asked. Breha laughed.

"Where there's a Bey, there's a speeder. Mine's over here—it’s a little old, though," she answered. They were led around the house to a clunky old speeder and Rey felt an immediate kinship with it, because it reminded her of the old speeders she'd used on Jakku.

"As long as it runs, right?" Rey asked.

"Well, it's not in as good a condition as the _Falcon_ , but she's not bad for an antique. Here." Breha took three helmets out of a seat compartment and tossed two of them to Rey and Luke.

"So, Rey," Breha said, digging out seatbelts for the sidecar, which Luke occupied, while Rey tucked herself in behind Breha. "What's your story? How'd you meet Poe? Uncle Kes hasn't told us much."

"I could go back _really_ far," Rey laughed, and then shook her head, "But I'll spare you. I grew up on Jakku." She had to yell a little to be heard over the old speeder, at least until they reached a cruising speed and Breha throttled it down and let it coast. "I met BB-8 first, when they got separated from Poe. And then I met Finn after he and Poe escaped the _Finalizer_ and crashed on Jakku. I didn't _really_ meet Poe until after we destroyed Starkiller Base. He and Finn were inseparable at the time, and Finn is the first friend I've ever had. Things kind of...went from there. We all realized we love each other." She paused, as she always did when she thought about the sheer unlikelihood of the three of them finding each other. "When we realized we had the map to Luke, Poe and I accidentally hugged in all the excitement,” she laughed. “And we introduced ourselves. Awkwardly, if I remember."

"Aha, well. Thank goodness for Finn," Breha said, "if he brought all of you together."

"I don't know what we all did that the Force saw fit to let us all find each other, but...It must have been something good," Rey said, and Luke coughed next to her. "I know that's not how it works," she told him, and he grinned at her.

Breha chuckled. "You know we had bets going on Poe—career military, you know, he marries later than the rest of us, that's fine—but since he goes for all kinds, we had a pool on would he finally fall for a man or a woman? And now it's both! I think that's why Nana Dameron is so confused all the time." Breha giggled. "So since no one wins, that money's going toward your wedding present. BUT before I accidentally blab, why are we going up to the Temples again?"

"There is power there that we might need against the First Order," Luke said cryptically. "We need it to protect the Tree, in case they try to come for it."

"We'll be ready for them," Breha said with confidence. "Our militia can at least handle _stormtroopers_ —no offense to my future cousin-in-law."

"He'll be glad to know your militia can take on stormtroopers. If you need anything, though..." she said, and Breha nodded.

"We'll let you know. Though it sounds like you might be helping already! Should I drop you guys and come back, or can I stay?" she asked. Both women looked over at Luke, since Rey had no idea what the ritual would entail.

"You can stay, it's not going to be secret," Luke told Breha. She was a pretty woman, just a bit older than Rey. Luke wondered how many girls her age were named Breha after the destruction of Alderaan and the loss of its queen. "Just boring. We might be all day up here," he reported. "So that's up to you."

"I love all the old Jedi stuff! I'd love to stay if I wouldn't get in the way. Tano is watching the kids," Breha said.

"If you get too bored, you can always go for a joyride and come back," Rey said, because she had the sneaking suspicion the tendency to do this might be a family trait. From Breha's grin, she wasn't wrong. "Did you ever consider switching the acceleration drive on this? It won't make it any quieter, and it might take a little longer to get up to speed, but it'll make it go faster. You know, if you ever wanted it to. For any reason." Rey noticed out of the corner of her eye that Luke was shaking his head fondly at them.

Breha grinned. "How long are you planetside again?" she asked wryly. She and Rey were going to get on swimmingly.

They drove straight up the mountain, which Rey realized was what was going to have taken them such a long time if they went on foot, and when they got off the speeder it was almost chilly up here. Breha parked and Luke hopped out, inspecting the area. "Yes, yes, this is the one," he said, as if surprised that Breha had been able to follow his vague instructions.

"Not like I grew up here playing Siths and Jedis _all my life_ or anything," she laughed.

…

The day was long and hard, a combination of long bouts of meditation (Rey’s least favorite thing) and moving rocks around with their minds (something else Rey didn’t appreciate). She missed Sam, and she missed Finn and Poe, and even Breha had gotten bored and taken the speeder down the mountain to run some errands, promising she would return before nightfall.

And there wasn’t even much of a ritual, which was kind of disappointing, though Rey didn’t exactly know what she expected—

Chanting, dancing, incense? It sounded stupid now.

Luke explained that protections were encoded into the Temples themselves, and just needed to be adjusted so that they worked properly again after the years, and could source additional power from the Force tree, which Rey could see glowing from here, once it got dark enough.

“It certainly wasn’t luck, or skill on my part when I blew up the first Death Star,” Luke explained, running his fingertips over the grooves in the stones, like he was reading them with his hands. “The Force protects these Temples—or—it gave me the ability to protect them.” He shrugged, and Rey was struck by how sweet he was, and she took his hand, giving it a brief squeeze before she let go. “Of course—that doesn’t always work, you know. There was a Temple once, on a planet called Jedha—the Death Star’s first target. That Temple was even older and even more sacred, and the Force didn’t save it.”

Luke sat down, heavily, and took Rey’s hand, pulling her to sit across from him. “That’s what we must remember, Rey. The Force isn’t good or evil, and it certainly isn’t what we would call _ethical_. Even if it saved your child, it let thousands of others die. The power we wield is the same that Kylo Ren and the Supreme Leader wield.”

Rey’s brow pinched. None of that sounded good. “Why—are you telling me this?” she asked.

Luke shrugged again. “So that you are careful. So that you trust the Force—but not necessarily trust the Force to, ah, ‘do the right thing.’ It is a mysterious power that can be used for a lot of good, or for unspeakable evil, which we have no hope of understanding fully. The Old Jedi Order thought they understood it. They thought they could measure someone’s strength in Force by looking at the midichlorians in their blood.” He smiled—not quite laughing—as if at an old superstition.

“I suppose I’m telling you this, Rey, to keep you humble. Remember that the power you wield is a dangerous one, with no interest in you, and a very, very strange interest in the galaxy at large. It does what it does, and it has chosen my family, and intertwined it with yours, and we can only do the best we can with what is given to us. Which makes us just like everyone else in the galaxy.”

Rey smiled. “I feel like that was supposed to be a depressing talk.” She hugged her knees and leaned against Luke to boop their knees together. “But it’s kind of comforting.”

“Blast. I am really off my game, here,” Luke said, and laughed.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fifty-seven days before the wedding.
> 
> This chapter includes Jess/Sevens smut at the end (not their first time, but our first time writing it!)

By the time Rey and Luke had left Yavin IV and were on their reconnaissance mission, Finn’s next mission was underway, coordinating extraction—rescue, really—of the stormtrooper cadets from Endor.

Only, they weren’t quite expecting them to be _so young_.

"So. The kids have blasters," Finn said, dropping back into the depression they were hiding in. "Which is early. I didn't have my first blaster until I was ten."

Poe blinked worriedly at Finn. "Um. Finn, buddy. In the rest of the galaxy _ten_ is kind early to handle a firearm!" he hissed.

A small fuzzy hand clapped over his mouth. [What about ‘quiet’ don't you big people understand?!] Chieftainess Kneesaa chittered at him, and Poe shut up.

Poe didn't like the idea of Ewok royalty being involved in a dangerous mission, but she and Wicket both insisted on coming along. Wicket was in charge of the Ewok contingent in the other raiding party, led by Jess and, gods help her, Deeks, with Sevens and Torch filling out the fireteam. Poe and Finn had Tova and Nova with them. It was very important to all the stormtroopers that they take part in freeing new stormtroopers—and this wasn’t their first mission of this kind—though Timons, not ready for a firefight yet, waited back at Bright Tree Village with the rest of their backup and transports. The plan was to hit the two training facilities simultaneously, so that the First Order wouldn't have time to do anything stupid.

The Ewoks were Force-sent, though, really. The Ewoks had attempted a few raids on the First Order (okay, they insisted on calling them the ‘Empire,’ still, and Wicket repeatedly called Poe "Bey" but he was fine with that), but none of them had been successful. They were glad for the opportunity to _take these motherfuckers down_ , however you said that in Ewokese.

"Right, sorry," Poe said, lowering his voice again. "Okay, so we go in and take out the adults and then we can take the kids with us, right?"

[If it were that simple, Chieftainess Kneesa would already have done this!] the Ewok huffed, thumping her chest.

"Can we get closer before we alert them to our presence? Maybe draw out the other minders, disable who we can, try to avoid killing, even the adults, in case any are more interested in deserting than continuing to fight," Finn suggested, to the dismay of their Ewok allies. They preferred to get rid of them all—better than giving any the chance to escape.

[Ridiculous! They could have deserted before now! We would not have harmed deserters!] the Chieftainess whispered harshly. Finn raised his eyebrows at her.

"With all respect, Chieftainess, how were they to know that? Most of them—most of _us_ —were taught about the merciless Resistance allies, right?" Finn asked her softly. Tova and Nova, remembering their disagreement with Chewie, nodded so hard Finn was briefly concerned they might give themselves whiplash.

Kneesaa made a rude noise, but conceded. [Very well, Finn of the Large Heart] she said. [You let me take the head of the one who beats the woklings, and I will let the others live. He is the tall one: light hair under the mask.]

Poe switched out his power pack for a taser attachment. "That sounds like a fair trade to me," he said. Also, Chieftainess Kneesaa was carrying a bowcaster of a similar make as Chewie's, except smaller, and for all it was kinda cute, that thing could _not_ be set on stun, and aside from the fact that they were in her territory under her jurisdiction, anyway, Poe made it a habit not to disagree with anyone carrying a bowcaster. "Me and Tova can go around the back with Romba and Fufuneek, try to catch the perimeter guards."

Finn nodded, in full agreement with this plan. "Who of your people would be best left out here to stop anyone who tries to escape?" he asked Kneesaa. She thought and then turned to four of her soldiers and said something too fast for Finn to catch. They nodded and melted into the underbrush, leaving the other seven of the party to storm the facility. "Ready?" Finn asked, and everyone gave a short nod. "Be careful," he told them, and grabbed Poe for a quick kiss.

Poe returned the kiss and deepened it until "Okay," Finn said, and pushed him off. Giving him a cheeky grin, Poe nodded at his small fireteam and jerked his head toward the underbrush. Their Ewok allies led the way, no doubt cursing the loud feet of their companions.

"We could get them when they rotate the guards, sir," Nova suggested, over the comlinks.

"If we can take both of them at once," Tova added.

From their new hiding place, Poe could see a stormtrooper walking up to another; they exchanged what passed for pleasantries in the First Order when your job was brainwashing children to become murder machines.

"That's not the one the Chieftainess wants, is it?" Poe checked. Their Ewok guides shook their heads. "Okay. Fan out, get a good crossfire." He leaned into his comlink: "Major Large Heart, we are in position—"

"Poe, that's not remotely my code name."

"Neither is 'Poe' mine," Poe chuckled, and heard Finn sigh deeply on the other end.

"Confirm in position, we are standing by. Eight-Seven out."

Poe waited until Tova got in position, and signaled with his hand. Two shots rang out, and the two stormtroopers dropped, twitching slightly, and then went still. The taser guns weren't _nice_ but at least they weren't dead. A third stormtrooper stepped out of the small building at the center of the compound, and Poe raised his own weapon while Tova and Nova were reloading. It was a long shot, but he let a breath out slowly and squeezed the trigger. The third stormtrooper dropped, followed by a few alarmed cries and the sounds of fighting around the other side.

Poe gave the signal to move in, reloading his taser gun and stepping up to the edge of the compound, moving fast and keeping low. Tova and Nova joined him, and their Ewok scouts as well. As cute as they could be, you didn't dare tell an Ewok they couldn't be in on a fight.

Finn and his team were efficient. The Ewoks dropped one guard as they walked the perimeter, and Finn and the ex-troopers charged the second. There was a brief scuffle and a knife was pulled on Tova—but the guard was dead of a broken neck a second later, courtesy of Nova. The Ewoks rejoined them just as a third trooper stepped outside and shouted in surprise.

Poe heard an alarm sound, but by then there was only the one tall stormtrooper left, and the rest was eerily silent. Maybe the children were hiding? Recon images had shown they were really tiny—like, no older than five—which made it even creepier that Finn had said he saw them with _blasters_ —so Poe had half expected them to start shrieking in terror once they were under attack.

Then he remembered these were not normal five-year-olds.

The tall stormtrooper didn't have much time to fight back as Poe saw, across the clearing, him go down with a leg-shot. Poe grimaced as he watched the man's _other_ knee explode in bowcaster fury, followed by the Chieftainess of the Ewoks kicking him in the chest so he dropped. And then something happened Poe was glad he couldn't see because next he knew she came up holding his decapitated head.

"Remind me not to piss her off," Poe muttered, mostly to himself as he tried to hold onto his lunch. "Okay," he said into his comm. There's a door back here, Fi—uhh, Eight-Seven. We've got eyes on it and the windows."

"Okay. We're going in the front."

The sight that greeted them inside was honestly worse than watching a man's head get shot off by a cute little Ewok, because there were children, _babies_ really, in a perfect phalanx formation with blasters too big for their bodies held at eye-level, tiny grim faces set with fear and rage and determination.

Oh gods help them, was all Poe had time to think before they opened fire and he ducked back behind the door, which was luckily blast-proof. "Get down, get back!" he shouted at Tova, who backed off from her window. "Stand down, stand down! We don't want to hurt you," he tried calling inside.

" _You_ stand down, Resistance scum!" shouted a little girl, and Poe wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.

Finn ducked behind his own door, motioning the others to stay back. He hadn't considered this might be an issue, and he hoped the others were having more luck with their raid on the other facility. He sighed deeply and squared his shoulders.

"I'd like to speak to the leader of this squad. If I come in there without my blaster, can we negotiate this one stormtrooper to another?" he asked. This was how he would have spoken to a scared adult stormtrooper. It broke his heart that it was probably the only thing these kids understood—that, and the threat of physical violence if they didn't behave as was expected.

"You're not a stormtrooper, you're a traitor!" A voice complained, and Poe saw—without being able to stop—his Ewoks slipping in through a window. _Shit_. Uh, maybe they knew what they were doing? Or Finn did.

"Believe me, kiddo, it's nothing I haven't heard before," Finn said wryly.

"We won't hurt you," Poe repeated. "We just want to talk."

"What did they tell you about the traitor FN-2187?" Finn asked. He risked a glance into the room, but could see nothing from this angle except an Ewok. Of course they were sneaking up on the children. _Great_. He hoped they wouldn't get themselves or anyone else injured.

"I did leave the First Order. I escaped, and I've helped others escape. I'll help you escape, if that's what you want. I'll find you people who will love you and protect you—I’ll do it myself, even," Finn said earnestly. He snuck a look around the door, but all he could see was a couple of Ewoks. They were out of the line of sight of the children, and using their lifetime of climbing knowledge to scale the back wall and the ceiling.

Poe was about to...well, do something, because this wouldn't be good, Ewoks getting the drop on these poor kids and scaring the crap out of them: someone was going to get hurt. He was just trying to decide whether he should comm in and warn Finn or try to do something equally drastic himself when not one, not two, but _three_ Ewoks attacked from out of nowhere. But ‘attack’ meant they disarmed and subdued at least two of the kids _each_ —apparently Ewoks had a "kill with kindness" setting that involved hugging their opponents into submission. Poe and Finn each opened their doors, but the Ewoks couldn't get all of them and at least five of the children barreled past them and sprinted into the underbrush.

"Shit!" Poe cried. "You take that one, I'm on these two!" He tore off after two small girls who were surprisingly _fast_ for being so godsdamned tiny!

Finn scrambled after three of the other children as they darted out past him. Two of them were caught by Ewoks (and hugged into submission—it was a strangely effective tactic) by the perimeter guards, but one slipped past and bolted off toward the right, in a completely different direction from the one they'd traveled to reach the facility. Finn cursed under his breath and went after him into the unknown terrain, crashing through the forest until they reached a clearing. The kid was already picking his way around some vegetation that Finn could easily push through or step over, and he caught up with him easily.

Predictably, when he snagged the kid's wrist and then picked him up, he yelled and screamed and kicked. Finn had to admire the tenacity, but it threw him off balance. As he stepped to the side to catch himself, his heel dropped and he heard an audible and very specific click.

_Oh, no._

It was just as well the kid had paused to recover a moment, perhaps also hearing the click.

"Okay—okay, I know you don't trust me, that's fine, but I'm standing on a mine and if I take a step, we're both in trouble," he said hurriedly to the boy, who gasped and immediately stopped squirming. "I'm going to put you down. I need you to go back the way we came until you get to the trees, just in case," he said, and carefully set the boy down before opening his comm line.

"Uh—hey, uh—Poe ? We have a problem. Kinda need some help," he said, voice shaking.

"Half a minute," Poe panted from the other side of the compound, completely underestimating how quickly he would catch this tiny pair. "Just—hang on—" Poe wasn't exactly sure how to do this painlessly for both of them, but he could grab the slightly slower one in a lunge, cradling her as they rolled through the foliage.

And for an instant Poe thought _Yes! Got her!_ and for a second instant Poe thought _Well I should hope you're a match for a five-year-old, Dameron, killing machine or not_.

And in the third instant there was a tiny boot coming at his face and things went dark.

...

"Ha!" the little boy said, scrambling away from Finn, recovering from his surprise that the Resistance soldier had let him go. "You're so dumb, you followed me right into the mine field!" But he looked around himself nervously.

"You knew this was here?" Finn asked, but of course the boy had known. He'd probably been told about it—albeit as a defensive feature to keep enemies out, rather than as a fence to keep children in. "Didn't I tell you to get out of here? Go on, just follow the path I made," he said. He waved in demonstration. "If you go back to the others, we'll make sure you're taken care of, just as soon as Poe gets here and helps me out." _Hopefully_ , he added to himself. "Right, Poe? You there, buddy?" he said into his com, since Poe's side had gone silent after a brief scuffling sound.

The boy waited, but there was no response from the comlink.

"No! You're gonna die! Because that's what the mine field's for!" the little boy said, and forced a laugh like this was something he _ought_ to find funny but didn't. "I could get away any time," he added, as if to convince himself.

"So then why don't you? Why haven't you?" Finn asked, looking around in vain for something he could maneuver onto the trigger so he could get away. There was nothing within reach.

"I—well—" the kid spluttered. "They don't tell us where the mines are in case we're kidnapped and tortured for information!" he tried. "And I want to watch you blow up."

Finn glanced over at the boy, who was sounding increasingly distressed. "Look. We're not kidnapping you, we're trying to rescue you. We want to take you where we can be sure you're safe," Finn said. "There are soft beds and warm blankets and all we want to do is take as many of you there as we can find."

 _And_ he'd rather not be blown up in the process. That would be really ideal. Where the hell was Poe?

"Hey—anyone got eyes on Poe? He's not answering me," he said into his comm, using the channel that would transmit to all of the other Resistance comlinks nearby. It was an easier signal to intercept, but he was willing to take the risk.

"I'll check it out," Tova replied. "Where are _you_ , Major?"

"Who's Poe?" the little boy asked idly, like they weren't waiting for Finn to blow up.

"—A- _ha_!" Poe's voice crackled suddenly over the comlink so loud they both flinched. "Got you, you— _ow_! Look, kiddos, the only woman allowed to bite me is my fiancée, and—uhh, I'll tell you about that when you're older. Anyway, I'm not putting you down. Oof!" he said, accompanying a dull thud. "Fi—I mean, Eight-Seven, I'm heading back to the compound, my hands are kinda full. You okay?"

Finn smiled despite the situation he was in, glad Poe was apparently alright. "Not as much? I could use some help... There's a mine field along this side of the facility, by the way, so keep the kids and anyone else away from it, unless you're coming to help me," he said. There was a chance Ewoks weren't heavy enough to trigger them, but he wasn't going to count on it.

"Shit, a _mine_ field, Finn?" Poe yelped. "I'll be right there!" he cried, and then there was static.

He turned back to the boy. "Poe is my fiancé, and also a pilot. He and our other fiancée are both pilots, as are some of the other ex-stormtroopers.”

“Other stormtroopers?”

“Yeah. The others are soldiers, mostly, with me." He remembered Timons, waiting for them back at the village. "One of them...she doesn't know what she wants to be. But she likes helping in the nursery. Sam, our son, really likes her." He wasn't sure any of this was going to convince the boy of his good intentions or to defect instead of fleeing into the forest as soon as anyone else showed up, but at least it calmed Finn to talk about his family.

" _Ex_ ...stormtroopers? There's no way that..." The little boy clenched his tiny fists, suddenly in a panic over his fellow cadets he had left behind. "Are you gonna recondition them?" Then he flinched, like this notion of _caring_ had been beaten out of him. "Not that I care!"

"No, of course we won't! We don't do that to anyone, ever," Finn said. This child knew about reconditioning already, and it broke his heart. They were starting them so much earlier than they'd started Finn and his cohort. "It's okay to care, you know. I did. They hated it—I don't even think Slip liked it, and he was the one I was usually caring about because he was the most accident-prone person in the galaxy. I got in trouble a lot for caring."

The boy blinked at Finn, startled into full feeling. "You did?" His face was wide with—something like awe, but mingled with relief that there was someone else like him in the whole galaxy, after all.

"Yeah. All the time. Ended up cleaning toilets more than once," Finn answered. "Which backfired spectacularly on them," he added. And it would never not be hilarious.

The boy laughed, because it seemed like something he was meant to do, and then he just looked morose, maybe even slightly green. "Do you still?" he asked. "Get in trouble for helping, I mean. Will you get in trouble for letting me go?"

"No, not really—and I won't get in trouble for letting you get away. They'll be distressed, and worried, and I can't promise that the Ewoks wouldn't find you and adopt you whether you thought you wanted it or not, because they really love their kids. But I won't get in trouble." He smiled wryly. "I'll get lectured for nearly getting blown to bits, but that's not like getting in trouble."

The child sniffled, and Finn realized with a start that he was crying—perhaps had been crying for some time, and kept it hidden. "Will they let me take care of my squad if I go back?" he asked, trying not to let his voice crack.

"Of course they will. They'll help you take care of them, if you want it." Finn wanted nothing more than to reach out and hug this poor child. _Come on Poe, get here_ , he thought.

The little boy pushed a fist across his face and blinked up at Finn with a determined look, like he could tell if he was lying just by glaring at him enough.

And then he ran away.

Finn had just about given up hope when he heard a huffing and a puffing, but instead of Poe, the little stormtrooper had come back, bearing a small boulder that was really too large for him to be lifting.

"My name is GT-6769, and I'm here to rescue you," he huffed, and rested the rock right next to Finn's foot. "Okay, look. You tell me where the catch is, and we ease your foot off and put this on instead!"

Finn was torn—on the one hand, the longer he stood here, the more likely it was he'd accidentally set off the mine. On the other hand, he was supposed to be keeping this boy safe, and letting him help him disarm an explosive was probably not the best way to do that.

But the boy had decided this on his own, and Finn felt he'd probably been ordered enough times to not help that he deserved a chance to finally help. Finn cleared his throat and looked down at his foot. "It's kind of just back of the middle of my foot, toward my heel." The boy crouched and pointed, and Finn nodded. "Right there. Are you sure this is a good idea?" he asked.

"Do you want to keep your leg or not?" GT-6769 said, shoving the rock behind Finn's foot. "Okay, keep your foot down, but let me push you forward. We can't let the catch come up. One, two—" and then with a great cry the boy shoved the boulder across the earth, where Finn's foot used to be, and then he was leaping nimbly over the rock and shoving Finn to the ground, like his tiny body could protect Finn if there were an explosion.

There was no explosion.

"Ha!" he said, beaming into Finn's face. "We did it!"

Just then, Poe came jogging up, sporting a nasty-looking welt across one side of his face that was blooming into a bruise over his eye. "Finn!" he exclaimed. "Are you okay, buddy? Who's this?"

“Wait, Poe, get back!” Finn cried, and then laughed, happy to be alive and sitting up very carefully, lest he somehow find another mine. The boy was all smiles, but went strangely quiet and still when Poe arrived.

Finn stood and picked the little boy up, holding him in one arm. "I'm fine, thanks to this guy,” he said. He plucked at Poe's sleeve and then picked his way back to the safety of the trees before continuing. "His name is GT-6769," he told him. The little boy was still quiet, clinging to Finn's side like he might just stay there forever. Finn turned his head to look at him and smiled. "This is Poe. Remember I told you about him? You'll meet the others I told you about, too. Want to go find your squadmates?" he asked him.

GT-6769 nodded, staring at Poe carefully.

“What happened to your face?” Finn asked, as he suddenly caught sight of the bruise.

Poe laughed and touched his face. "This is why I couldn't get here fast enough. Tiny Trooper Wrangling is a dangerous sport," he said, and winced, from pain and from wishing he hadn't said that. "Hi, buddy, good to meet you," Poe said, rubbing the boy's back as he clung to Finn, having suddenly transformed into a normal, shy, five-year-old.

"The stories say that you gave Eight-Seven his name," the child suddenly said, and looked to Poe expectantly.

"Oh—uhh—yeah, I did. That’s right," Poe said, a bit alarmed.

“What’s my name?”

“Uhh.” Poe panicked. G-T didn't go together well. Git? Get? Got? Gut? Maybe he really did have to be taking enemy fire to come up with good names. "Why don't you tell me about yourself?"

"I’m at the top of my class and the leader of my squad. I saved Eight-Seven from the mine he stepped on. He'd be dead without me,” the boy reported.

Poe blinked, looking sharply at Finn.

"Well, uh, it sounds like I owe you a lot more than a name, buddy." Poe reached into a pocket of his tac gear and pulled out a chocolate bar, which he unwrapped and broke a piece off of. "How'd he save you, Finno?" Poe said, giving the piece to the boy and feeding Finn a smaller bite directly, since his hands were full.

"He found a big rock and rolled it onto the trigger while I moved my foot," Finn said.

"It was a really big rock," the kid added proudly.

"A really big rock, huh?" Poe said. "You must be pretty strong then." He hummed thoughtfully, watching the kid enjoy his chocolate. "How about Rokko? I have a good friend named Rokko." He tugged his shirt collar down a bit to show part of his tattoos, since rolling his sleeves up would be too hard in tac gear. "She drew all these on me."

The kid's eyes went wide, almost like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Granted, Finn thought, he very well might not...

"I could have _her_ name? But isn't it hers? Won't she get mad I took it?" he finally managed.

"Well, it's a big galaxy, kid, so, sure! Lots of people have that name. You might never meet her, but if you did, she'd love it. She's got a different surname, anyway, and she's got long dark hair, so you'd never get mixed up," Poe assured him.

The kid swung his feet happily, and Poe smiled up at Finn.

"So, you like that name?"

"Yeah! I'm Rokko!" Rokko exclaimed, and when they reached the compound he wriggled down from Finn's arms to run to tell his squadmates the good news. Soon Finn and Poe were surrounded by a gaggle of tiny stormtroopers, all asking for names.

"Oh my gods, Finn, my man-ovaries are exploding. Can we adopt them all?" Poe hissed.

"You don't—I don't think we _can_. Unless your father really wants a whole herd of children to look after?" Finn said. He watched as the Ewoks corralled the children and started leading them all back to the village. "I'll comm Leia when we get back and ask what we should do. I didn't think there would be so many of them..."

Poe scoffed. "Clearly you're the strict parent, I'm asking Rey," he joked, and then gave a manic sort of laugh. "Either way we better start thinking of _names_ for all of them..."

When they got back to Bright Tree Village, Jess' group still hadn't reported in, but had another hour before Poe and Finn's team was supposed to get worried and go after them. Timons was delighted with the children, and they were delighted with her. The Ewoks calmed and comforted the children, as well, making sure they were fed and cared for, and then Rokko crawled into Finn's lap to demand _names_.

...

Some of the baby stormtroopers had nicknames to their numbers, but, like Sevens and Deeks, not many of them _liked_ their nicknames, so that left them with eighteen names to come up with. Poe could only suggest Clone trooper names from the _Clone Wars_ holo, like ‘Fives,’ ‘Rex,’ ‘Hardcase,’ and ‘Kix.’ Luckily, the Ewoks were very helpful in this regard, and the kids vastly preferred the fun-sounding 'Nippet,' 'Flitchee,' and 'Teebo' to normal names like Luke and Lando and Padmé.  

"Okay, I'm going to comm Jess," Poe said suddenly, once this crisis had been averted. "They're overdue in ten minutes, and I—Jess!" he squeaked, seeing them being led in by their Ewok allies, with another group of children, and Jess stood between Deeks and Sevens and _bleeding_. "Testor!"

Finn looked up as the other group arrived, and then sprang forward to help. "What happened?!" he demanded. Deeks was beside himself, but when Finn saw that Jess was hurt, he wasn't much better.

"One of the Troopers stabbed her," Sevens said, which, not the detail Finn had hoped for, but it was an answer. The Ewoks were already gathering around them, some to welcome the children and one who announced, [We will help Jessika Pava. Come with me,] and then walked briskly away.

"Hey, you don't look so bad," Poe tried, for everyone's benefit, but mostly Jessika's. "I can't believe you're making such a fuss over this papercut." He held a bacta patch to her side, and she winced.

Sevens was on her other side, holding her other hand. "She was hurt protecting me," they said, sounding more dazed than anything.

"Oh, I see, pulling this stunt just to get laid? I'm putting you on report, Pava."

"Fuck you, Dameron," Jessika grimaced. "The head bitch in charge _really_ didn't want to join the Resistance, I guess. Didn't want the kids to—ugh, either."

"Is she going to live?" Deeks asked, nearly hyperventilating.

"Finn, take care of Deeks," Poe ordered. “He’s really upset, and it’s upsetting Jess, please,” Poe hissed, and Finn turned to Deeks, who was still trying to hyperventilate. Finn went and put his hands on his shoulders.

"Deeks, she will be okay. Okay? Take a few breaths," he said, but the kid was shaking. Bodily, Finn turned him to face away from Jess, noting as he did that Timons was there and talking to Sevens, Poe, and the Chief and Chieftess.

"Look at me," he said to Deeks, and the kid finally managed to look him in the eye. "You need to breathe normally or you're going to pass out." Deeks nodded. "Breathe in for five, and then out for five—I’ll count," Finn said, and started counting.

That crisis averted, Poe ducked his head as Chief Wicket and Chieftainess Kneesaa stepped up to him.

"Chiefs,” Poe said, “we have a wounded friend, and we need to get her to our transport so we can—"

[No. Take her within. Our shaman will heal her.]

"Erm." Poe considered himself a solid diplomat, but even he (who also considered himself very open-minded about things he didn't understand—he was marrying a Jedi, after all) wasn't sure how to tell them that he didn't want to trust a gut wound to witchdoctorey when he could very easily take her to the closest hospital.

Timons, however, had been hanging around the healer for much of the day, learning about how the Ewoks, and their unconventional medical facilities (unconventional—they were basically a hut with some nice cots and herb-lined shelves). She understood the collective resistance to letting them treat as severe a wound as Jess had, but it seemed misplaced. So she stepped in.

"Um—sir. I think—They're very good healers, here,” she told Poe. “The Chief and Chieftainess wouldn't trust the care of their warriors and their children to anyone whose expertise they doubted," she said, and was gratified when the two Ewoks looked at her in surprise and then nodded.

Jess decided that it was very easy to not panic about gut wounds when you had to keep everyone around you from panicking. Deeks was the worst, but Finn wasn't much better, and Poe just got _bossy_ and _male privilegey_ when he was worried, and all of them were going to cause an international incident with the Ewoks if they didn't chill. It was a reasonable enough guess that she would survive a few hours with a gut wound, so they could at least let the Ewoks _try_. “Let’s do it, Poe. I’ll see this shaman.” Anyway, last time she was going to go easy on these banthafucking stormtroopers!

But when Sevens started stroking her hair and taking her hand, Jess begrudgingly knew she could never  _actually_ do that.

"The one that harmed you is dead, Jessika," Sevens said, and the Ewoks around her nodded approvingly. Even Jess felt a little better, in spite of herself.

"Want you to stay with me," she whispered, gripping Sevens’ hand, as the Ewoks lifted her up—surprisingly strong for being so short.

Once this had been settled, and Deeks had calmed enough to look merely concerned and miserable instead of panicked and hyperventilating, Finn stopped counting.

"She'll be okay?" Deeks asked in a very small voice, and Finn was reminded that for all his competence and resilience, Deeks wasn't even an adult, really. He sighed and gave the young man's shoulders a tug. Deeks seemed relieved that a hug had been offered and leaned on Finn for a few seconds. Then he took a deep breath and they turned back around, where the healer-or-hospital debate had apparently been sorted out.

They brought Jess inside a wooden room where a tall Ewok with gray fur (not necessarily a sign of age, she reminded herself) and decorated with many feathers and beads and even a long cloak, waited.

[What happened?] the Ewok asked, gesturing for them to set Jess on a neat, well-lit cot. They looked at Sevens expectantly.

"She got in between me and a vibro-knife," Sevens answered. Their eyebrows knit in concern as they looked down at Jess. "She was protecting me," Sevens added, like this was their fault.

Jess snorted and then winced as they started removing the uniform around her wound. She levered herself up to a sitting position so they could pull her clothes off without cutting them. "I did that because—" she paused and caught her breath, "I love you. And I'd do it again, so get used to it," she growled, though the effect was somewhat ruined because her face was buried in Sevens' shoulder as they held her up.

Sevens hugged Jess as close as they could without hurting her and rubbed a hand gently up and down her back before laying her back down.

The shaman, seeing them smile at each other, said, [Yes, then Sevens the Good will stay here. Also Finn Large Heart. Poe Dameron of the Skies will take the others out.]

"Now just a minute, that's my pilot you’ve got there!" Poe said, hitting his head on the low roof when he stood up suddenly, but the Ewoks were ushering everyone out, and he was left outside to worry, and corral worried Resistance crew and stormtroopers alike.

Inside, Jessika was beginning to feel loopy, possibly because they were burning some strange-smelling plant right by her head, and soon she wasn't feeling much pain, and was even giggling.

Sevens and Finn exchanged a look as Jess giggled, and Sevens...smiled, which was good. Finn remained near Jess' feet where he wasn't in the way, but Sevens was taking their job of staying with Jess very seriously. The Ewoks accepted this without a fuss, merely moving around them while Sevens murmured softly to Jess. Their smile had to be the sappiest, sweetest smile Finn had ever seen.

The scent of what they were burning did eventually reach him, too, and he realized that Jess and Sevens were really thoroughly drugged. But the smell sang in his bones, sort of, a refreshing hum like fresh cold air. He was briefly distracted, but a surprised whimper brought his attention back to Jess. The Ewok healer had pressed something against the wound, and apparently being high didn't completely deaden her nerves.

Sevens looked up nervously and the Ewok smiled, beginning to sing.

“We taught the off-worlders about what you call _bacta_ many centuries ago. We still make our own—but it is...not simple to administer at the proper dose,” one of the other Ewoks explained in hushed Basic, and indeed, the Shaman was concentrating as he sang, raising the bandage and then pressing it back down, as if he was using the music to keep count. Jess winced again and Sevens stroked her hair gently.

When the _singing_ started within the hut, Poe stood up. "Okay, _that's_ it, we're taking her to—"

Well, the answer was _only anywhere you can take her through the five warriors that were now guarding the door_.

"Please," he begged. "At least let me use a medkit on her!"

"Sit down, Poe Dameron of the Skies," Chief Wicket, one of the few Ewoks who spoke Basic, said, and Poe's knees went out from under him as the Ewoks forcibly sat him down. He realized his outburst had upset Deeks, and he set his jaw.

" _Please_ —"

"No. Listen. You know the Skies, and the Shaman knows how to care for wounds."

Dr. Lan came up to them, bowing before the Chief, and when he nodded she sat next to Poe. "The singing controls the timing of the medicinal application. Untreated bacta is more potent, and more effective, but can be dangerous when applied by an amateur hand. And our Shamans are what you would call Force Sensitive."

Poe deflated a little. "But, uh," he said. "Well why'd you become a medical doctor, then? From a Republic academy?"

"Because I'm about as Force Sensitive as you are, Commander. Anyway, Doctor of Psychology. My people don't do Psytech very well here," she said sternly, and Poe felt suddenly insensitive for asking.

"Sorry," he said. "I just wish I could be in there with her..."

"Major Finn is with her. The Shaman will benefit from his connection to the Force."

"…Oh."

"Will you come with me and comfort the children? Deeks should come, too."

"Okay.” Poe sighed. “Okay. Deeks?" Poe said, patting his shoulder. "Come on, kiddo."

"Don't call me kiddo."

"Just making sure you were paying attention, kid," Poe said, and it was met with a bone-crushing hug from the young ex-stormtrooper.

In the hut, Sevens also stood uneasily when the singing started, but a glare from the Shaman stopped them in their tracks. They sat back down and contented themselves with continuing to pet Jess' hair. She was grinning a dopey smile up at Sevens, once again oblivious to any pain. Finn, who had not moved at all, felt a little dizzy, but it didn't bother him. It was only the Force, and the Shaman was using it to help Jess—that and the bacta.

[Good. Sing with me,] the Shaman said. [You must sing, too, my child, to be healed.]

"Ah, fuck, really?" Jess groaned, but the melody was a simple one, and though only the Shaman and his assistants knew the words, presumably it helped if they all just hummed along. Jess was now definitely high enough to feel the vibrations of Sevens' voice through their knees where her head rested, and it felt...good. It even felt like it was... _helping_. Also the Shaman and the other Ewoks were glowing faintly blue, and so was Finn, and so was Sevens, she guessed, and so was she. She stopped singing to giggle.

At some point she realized she was also naked, and that was cool, too. She wondered when this was going to become an orgy, and felt the need to point out that she was a lesbian and that Finn was nice but she really didn't think of him that way and was pretty sure he didn't think of her in that way, either, and while Poe would probably be fine with it if the two of them had sex in a fuck-or-die situation, Rey was kriffing _scary_ so she'd really rather not...

Finn didn't really shake himself out of his half-daze until the singing stopped. When he came back to himself, he felt like he'd had a good night's sleep—he was invigorated, a little confused, and still kind of groggy.

He also wanted to find Poe about ten minutes ago and take him to somewhere quiet and soundproof and fuck the everloving Force out of him.

It was not the reaction he'd been personally expecting, and when he was dismissed he stumbled slightly. And, uh, crap, his trousers were feeling really tight. Not really a normal reaction to seeing your best friend nearly die of a gut wound? Glancing back, he noted a look of pure frustrated desire on Sevens' face—so at least he wasn't the only one.

He went as hastily as he dared to find Poe.

...

When the...procedure...ritual...thing was over, Jess felt _great_. There was a bandage around her middle, but the bandage itself was more irritating than painful. And she wanted— _Sevens_. Just. Sevens.

[Now you must help her to sleep,] the Shaman said, patting Sevens' hand and shooing away Finn and his attendants—all but one, who stayed to translate so there would be no confusion. [Sometimes the patient will wish to copulate, sometimes just for the company of the mate—if she wants only to rest you will guard her. What _you_ may want is of no consequence,] he added sternly.

Jess giggled. "Yup. Sex. That's me, right here, what I want now, thanks." Between her legs felt tingly and warm and wet, and the furs over the top of her were basically the most erotic thing she had ever felt. "Sevens, baby? Please? I can sit—whoa, nope. No, I can't."

[She should, of course, not engage in anything particularly strenuous until sunrise. I trust you can handle it from here? There will be an attendant outside.]

Jessika was purring and humming and smiling up at Sevens, and _wriggling_. It was incredibly distracting when they were trying to listen to instructions. Sevens' mouth went dry.

They put a hand on Jess' chest. "Jessika, you need to be still. Please, you'll hurt yourself," they said when the last two ewoks had exited. _I'll hurt you_ , they worried. But Jess just gave them a needy, pathetic look and tugged their hand. "Ok stop, I'm moving, I'm moving," they squeaked, shifting over to the bed and stretching out next to Jess, trying to ignore that she was warm and soft and completely naked. They brushed their fingertips over Jess' soft skin and kissed her gently.

"You're wearing too many clothes," Jessika said, tugging open Sevens' shirt and lifting her head to kiss them. "I feel _really_ good, Sev, and I love you a lot. Thank you for being here. Feels," she said, and giggled instead of finishing her sentence. Everything tingled, and her eyes were bright. "It's like I can see your soul, Sev. Kiss me. Let me get my hands on you? Want to see how your soul looks when you come for me. Get under here with me, it feels _good_ ," she groaned, pulling Sevens close.

Sevens kissed Jess still, but they also didn't have to be asked twice. It was a matter of moments to shrug off their shirt and wriggle out of their pants. They purred as they slid under the blankets with Jess. "You're not supposed to do anything strenuous," they hummed to her, nuzzling at her neck and pressing kisses to bare skin. The thrill of loving and being loved never grew old for Sevens. They hummed, trying to decide if they could let Jess get away with getting her hands on them, or if this would classify as strenuous.

"If I'm not supposed to do anything strenuous," Jessika growled, sensing her hesitation, "then you better sit on my face or my hand."

Sevens obliged her, slinging one leg over Jessika's legs so that they both could work a hand in between the other's legs. Jess gasped, already _dripping_ , and Sevens was wet, too, and Jess tugged them into a kiss.

"Gods, Sev, you feel so good, you—ahh—yeah, fuck me, want you inside—damn it, wish we'd brought the strap-on," she laughed, and Sevens laughed, too.

"I think that would qualify as strenuous," they said, head ducking down to kiss and teeth all over Jessika's breasts until she was moaning and writhing. "Hey. Stop moving, or I stop," she said firmly.

"I outrank you," Jess said mutinously.

"And you told me always to ignore when you say that in the heat of the moment," Sevens laughed. "You get megalomaniacal in bed."

"That's not—" Jess began petulantly, but then Sevens crooked their finger up and she cried out and jerked—but Sevens was ready, covering her with their body, all but pinning her to the low cot. "Kriff, yeah, Sev," she gasped. "W-want—" Her own fingers were stalling out, working a lazy circular motion that Sevens was kind of glad for, considering that they needed to keep their head a little more right now.

"Okay, shh, calm down," Sevens hummed, kissing her neck and her brow. "You—you almost died on me, you stupid flygirl. Let me take my time with you."

Jess licked her lips and went still. "Yeah, I—yeah. Sorry." She sighed into Sevens, into the sensations, the fact that she could see light pooling low in Sevens' belly. "Gods, I love you so much," she said, suddenly blinking back tears. "And we might never have met. We might have killed each other, if things had been different. And now—now I'd die for you."

Sevens continued, crooking their finger again to get _that_ reaction out of Jess, seeking a pace they could maintain while distracted. They pressed their forehead to Jess' and closed their eyes, basking in the warmth of just being here, like this, against every possible odd.

"Please don't ever die," they said softly and sincerely.

"What, you want to live with me when I'm old and ugly, and crabby because I'm too blind to fly?" Jess laughed, and gasped, her breath hitching, close again. "We pilots live fast, die young, and leave behind beautiful corpses, don't you know that?  Ohh Sevens, _fuck_ ," she groaned, and then yelped and her hips twitched and she was over that horizon, pleasure flooding through her.

"Kidding, baby, I was kidding," Jess promised, gasped, now sucking a kiss from Sevens like she was dying of thirst. "Come for me, love, I'm never leaving you."

Sevens moaned into Jess' shoulder and shifted their hips restlessly, careful of Jess' wound as the warmth built and crested. When they came, it was like seeing fireworks, and they panted until they could see straight again. They stroked Jess' hair and kissed her gently, deeply, until they both were breathing normally again. "Can I stay here and hold you?" they asked a little sheepishly, because the cot was not large and Jess _was_ still injured.

"If you leave, I'm gonna totally freak out," she murmured, letting Sevens slide her over so that they could both lie on the cot together. "Thanks, Sev. Love you. Thanks for taking care of me."

Sevens cuddled up next to Jess, wrapping her in their arms and inching up so they could tuck her head under their chin. "I love you too, and I'm going to stay right here and take care of you," they said as they moved a hand to gently pet Jess' hair. "But please try not to make a habit of scaring me like that," they added softly, unsure if Jess was even still awake to hear them.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fifty-seven days before the wedding.

Outside, Poe was surprised to find that the children were being successfully drawn out of their shells by a healthy ratio of Ewoks to children, and straightforward, playful interaction. The language barrier didn't seem to be a problem, not when Dr. Lan was there, and Timons and Deeks and Tova and Nova, too, and even BB-8, comforting them and talking to them, and many of the Ewoks from Bright Tree Village spoke Basic, anyhow. Poe knew the Ewoks raised their woklings communally, and all of the tribe was out to visit and comfort and feed the small humans. Some of the children were still hostile, many were morose and had shut down, likely still afraid, but a few were smiling. One was learning to play a strangely violent stick and ball game, and another was fascinated with a newborn wokling.

Poe smiled at the scene, overwhelmed by how many young stormtroopers there were, but sure that they would be well taken care of at least in the short term. Poe had just resolved to go try to talk to some of the scared ones when BB-8 chirped with an incoming transmission.

"Okay, buddy, let's have it," he said, and a blue image of Rey popped up. He brightened and tried talking back until he realized it was a recording.

_"Poe! Finn! BB-8! Met up with Chewie, and we're on our way to rendezvous. We should arrive by sunrise where you are. Sam is settled and happy with your father. Miss him already, but I miss you, too. Be there soon! Love you!"_

Poe sighed. It would be good to have them all together again, even if Sam was with his dad. ( _Lucky kid_.)

He brightened again when he saw Finn striding towards him, and rushed to him. "Finn! How was it? How's Jess? What did they do? Do we need to—uh. Buddy?"

Finn paused on his way to Poe only because Deeks caught his eye and gave a tired wave and an enquiring raise of his eyebrows. Finn threw back a thumbs up and a smile, which seemed enough for Deeks to return to what he'd been doing.

When he reached Poe, Finn gave him a slightly strained smile, trying to focus. "She's going to be fine. Sevens stayed, so probably better than fine? Can we uh—talk? Somewhere private?" he asked, because he didn’t want any variations on “I want to fuck you like an animal” overheard by any prying child ears—or anyone, for that matter.

Poe huffed as Finn took his elbow and backed him away into some trees. "How private, buddy?" he asked, bemused, since Finn's eyes looked bright and he was a little unsteady, his pupils blown wide. "Whoa, Finn, are you _high_?" he cackled, unhelpfully.

Finn made a sound of frustration and would have stomped his feet except that was immature and his balance was not currently stellar, so he grabbed Poe’s hips and pulled him so they were flush together. "I'm not—okay, maybe I am, but I didn't mean to be, it just _happened_ because of whatever they were burning in there. Sevens and Jess got it worse." He took a deep breath and made himself be still, because he was grinding against Poe. He had much better self-control than this... "I'm just really, really...I really want to fuck you," he admitted, a little ashamed of himself (but not _that_ ashamed).

"Whoa," Poe said, eyes bugging out a little, and he laughed, without meaning to, and then pulled Finn into a kiss. "Where do I get me some of this wonder drug?" he asked, and Finn shoved him, which he supposed he deserved. "I'm kidding, Finn, I love you. Let me go find—I'll get us a room or a balcony somewhere. We can watch Rey fly in." He kissed Finn again and pulled him after him to ask Dr. Lan—he figured she would know how to ask this most sensitively.

Surprisingly few only barely awkward conversations later, Poe was leading Finn up into a tree house and Finn kept _groping_ him and they barely got inside before they were tearing off each other's clothes. Finn may have made a few small noises of distress because clothes were annoying and he needed them all off immediately. He nuzzled at Poe's neck and finally managed to kick free of his pants, which was a relief.

He felt ridiculous, that a little smoke could override the better part of his self-control and make him so desperate like this, but he needed to be inside Poe, filling him up, hearing him scream his name, claiming him, preferably all night. He kissed Poe gently, but insistently, and "Sorry," he murmured, even as he was groping his perfect ass.

"Finn, buddy," Poe gasped, and couldn't help but laugh as Finn got his greedy hands on him. "You do _not_ need to apologize. These—I guess—" he laughed again, warmly, beginning to groan as Finn began roughly stroking his cock, "I guess the Ewoks don't believe in signing waivers before you get involved in this stuff, huh?" He grabbed Finn's face, made him look at him. "Are _you_ okay with this? Honestly you’re the one whose ability to consent is impaired, here." But then Finn was trying to stuff two fingers in his mouth, and Poe laughed again. "I have lube!" he said, which came out 'woob.' "Slow down!"

Finn did slow down, dropping his hand to Poe's hip. He pulled him closer so they pressed against each other and gave Poe a kiss that was slow and sweet and at odds with his current impatience. Finn loved kissing Poe like this—from a slight height advantage, the kiss deep and unhurried. He hummed happily and nipped at Poe's lower lip as he stroked his cock again, trying very hard to draw a moan out of him while also slowing down.

"Finn, Finn," Poe laughed, grabbing his hands and kissing him. "Hold on, hold on. Let me blow you, sweetheart. Not sure we’ve got time for anything else, unless you’re not worried about me walking ever again," he said, pushing Finn against the wall and dropping to his knees. Poe suspected he needed to be in this for the long haul, so his own dick had to be off-limits. "Love you like this, Finno," he moaned. Finn was already hard and dripping and Poe couldn't wait to get his mouth on him, and he didn't waste time.

Finn moaned softly and buried his hands in Poe's hair as a shiver ran down his spine. He was going to come in record time, the way his body was responding, but he was a willing passenger at this point. "Fuck, _fuck_ ," he moaned, and gave Poe's hair a tug.

Poe was painfully turned on just from this, and whined gently the more Finn pulled his hair. He moaned and had only pulled out about half the tricks his tongue knew before Finn was shouting and coming down his throat. Poe pulled off, but Finn was still half-hard. "How's that, buddy? Feeling okay?" He kissed each thigh and licked him again, testing his sensitivity, but Finn groaned again. "You want to go again, buddy? It's not too soon? Hells, I got a 40th birthday coming up, maybe I should get me some of this stuff." He beamed up at Finn expectantly.

Finn had expected that to be it, for the buzz of arousal to go away, but it very expressly was doing no such thing. He looked down at Poe and frowned thoughtfully. "What about you?" he asked. His fingers were still in Poe's hair, and he scratched gently at his scalp. If Finn was going to be high like this and Poe wasn't, it was only fair that he made sure Poe enjoyed it, too.

"Finn, buddy, sweetheart, honey bunch," Poe huffed. "I am _absolutely_ enjoying this already," he promised, squeezing Finn's meaty, gorgeous thighs under his palms. "And if you're still going after this, I want you to fuck me and it'll be the best thing that's happened to me all month, and keep in mind in this month we've destroyed two First Order shipyards, captured three cargo ships, liberated two internment camps, and now—" he grinned, recognizing that Finn was growing impatient. "Well, you get the idea," he said, and swallowed Finn down again.

Finn could have melted with relief, but anything he was about to say was lost in a groan that trailed off into a whimper. "So good to me," he gasped. His hips hitched and he gasped an apology for making Poe gag, but he didn’t let go of the death-grip on his hair. He was worried his knees would buckle, but Poe had his hips pinned hard to the wall (he would have bruises—wonderful bruises, and Rey would give them a raised-eyebrow look and laugh). He was already so close again, and he was going to be so sore tomorrow, or at least exhausted.

But Poe, he thought, was going to be even more sore.

"Mm," Poe moaned, letting himself get into this, though keeping it in his head that he had to make sure to look after Finn, make sure he didn't hurt himself or get dehydrated or anything. "Love it when you're rough with me, Finn," he reminded him when he pulled off for air. "You're good to me, too." He gave him a few lazy tugs with his fist as he smiled up at him. "There _is_ a bed," he said, nodding to the side, unable to stop smiling, which made a good blowjob difficult. "Well, or there is a pile of furs and things."

"Bed sounds good," he said, partially because if his knees did turn to jelly, he didn't want to topple over. That would be decidedly unsexy. He took Poe's hand and drew him to his feet to kiss him. "Let me?" he said shyly, and led Poe over to the bed before sitting down and tugging him into his lap to kiss him some more.

"'Pile of leaves' is more accurate," Poe said, and though the leaves and furs were soft, he hoped they didn't get stuck anywhere awkward. Also this 'bed' was made for an Ewok, not two fully grown Humans. But they would make do. Still grinning, Poe sat on Finn's lap and kissed him. "I'm serious, though, hands off my cock. If this—which hits about twelve of my kinks, buddy, I don't know about you—is going to be a marathon, I need you to touch me anywhere but there, got it?" Poe, however, reached between them to take Finn in hand and work him slowly but steadily towards orgasm. "Finn, you are so gorgeous. So heroic. You've got the Order running scared. They are _scared_ of you, Finno. And that's—mm—so hot," he moaned in between kisses.

"Mmm, Poe," Finn moaned, dropping his head to nip Poe's collar bones and suck a mark on his neck. He tried to hitch his hips forward, but with Poe in his lap he couldn't move much. "Please," he whined, needing Poe to go faster. He shivered and gripped Poe's waist harder, because otherwise he was going to find something to do with his hands, and Poe's cock was _right there_ and he was beautiful, here, curled in Finn's lap and pressed against his chest, tattoos almost seeming to shift in the shadows caused by the tree canopy. "Poe, I love you. I love you so much," he murmured against his neck. “And I love it when you go slow but, today... I’m gonna need you to sit on my cock voluntarily before I have to make you.”

Poe was _embarrassed_ at how hot that was, and, "I've got you, sweetheart," he said, and shivered, body electrified everywhere Finn touched him, and he grinned at Finn's almost manic focus on the parts of his tattoos that peeked over his shoulders and arms. "You want me to turn around for you, buddy?" he asked, pushing Finn down to onto the makeshift bed. "Let me get ready for you, love, and then I'm all yours," he promised, uncapping the lube and soaking his fingers. "Let me get my mouth on you while I work?" Multi-tasking at its finest, honestly.

Finn nodded, gazing glassy-eyed up at Poe. He smiled crookedly and put a hand behind his neck to pull him close enough for a kiss. Then he let him go, returning the hand on his neck to his hair. Finn shifted restlessly, almost painfully hard from Poe's unfinished hand job, but he could be patient. He knew how to be patient. "So close," he warned him, "Gonna have to—" he shifted his hips, but found no relief that way either, "Gonna have to—damn it, Poe, I don’t want to _hurt_ you," he panted.

Poe liked this feeling, of feeling stretched and full at both ends, even if it was just his fingers inside him, but he glanced up at Finn's plea. "Not gonna hurt me, honey," he said, and winked: "I like it too much.”

Finn grinned at that, bright-eyed, amused or grateful, or both.

“Okay I'm just about—ready for—"

"Good," Finn said, rolling Poe over so he could mount him.

"Whoa!" Poe cried with a laugh, and just barely scrambled to his knees and told himself to relax before Finn was inside him. "Ohhh  _shit_ yeahhhh," Poe gasped, because even like _this_ Finn was a gentleman, he could feel how much Finn was holding back. "Gods you feel g-good," he said, almost hiccupping, and reached back to grab Finn's hip. "Hang on, hang on, kriff, _wait_ , buddy..." He puffed through a few breaths and then let it out in a slow exhale as his body accepted Finn’s girth.

"Okay, my friend, go to town. Make me feel—OH HOLY HELLS YEAH!" Poe suddenly cried, eyes rolling back into his head with pleasure.

Finn found a rhythm, hands on Poe's hips to hold him still, and kissed just behind his ear. "Gonna make you come without even touching you," he told him, shifting just enough to find the angle that let him hit Poe's prostate. He buried one hand in Poe’s hair and pulled, and found the pressure point behind his collarbone with the other and put the slightest pressure on it with his fingers. "Think you can come for me?" he asked as he thrust again. "You feel so good, love. You're so good. Come for me, sweetheart," he half commanded, half begged, and dug his thumb in where it rested.

"Gods, oh, oh gods," Poe begged, very quickly falling apart in spite of his best efforts. "Finn, you, kriff!" And he _was_ , he was really close, and if Finn wasn't done after this he would just—well—it wasn't as though being fucked after he orgasmed would be a _chore_ for him, but he was a little worried Finn might feel as though he wasn't doing well and Poe didn't want that.

Honestly this was why they had two lovers each, he thought with a laugh. "You gonna—" he was about to ask and then Finn was yanking on his hair and hooking a finger in under his collarbone until he saw stars and it was all over. Poe shouted and spent, muscles clenching as he felt Finn follow after him.

Finn's vision went white for a moment and he cried out as he came, moaning low against Poe's neck as the orgasm rolled through him and through Poe, his hips still snapping in and out of him, and it felt so good and he could feel Poe through the Force and _oh no he was still hard_.

“Poe?” Finn whimpered, trying not to hurt him but damn it, he was still really horny, and he bit into Poe’s shoulder to try to alleviate some of his own ache before realizing that might hurt.

“Ow, ooh, hey, sweetheart,” Poe groaned. “It’s okay, I’m okay, keep going. Little rougher is just the way I like it,” he gasped, grinning.  

Poe scrambled back up onto his knees and elbows, but Finn was taking things into his own hands now, and pulled out of Poe just long enough to flip him onto his back, toss his legs over his shoulder, and slide into him again.

“Good,” Finn grunted, and kissed his thigh.

Poe whined and reached above his head to fist part of the bed below him, trying not to tense but just let it happen. Finn’s fingers dug into his thighs a little roughly, and he wasn’t going to sit comfortably for a few days, but that just meant it was a good lay, honestly. “Ah, Finn!” he grunted.

Finn’s eyes didn’t look crazed or out of focus—if anything, they looked more intense, and his movements, far from clumsy, were as precise as ever. He was just really horny, and it made him go all manic-focused like he did when he was strategizing or training, and, wow, shit, okay, Poe was getting hard _again_. It didn’t help that Finn was nailing his prostate like it was a science.  

Finn was growing tired, but he needed this, it felt really good and really necessary, like his blood was boiling and this was the only way to cool it off, and, he realized with a smirk, Poe was doing the opposite of complaining, he could feel him all the way into his soul, so he really felt—it felt good.

“I love you,” Finn growled. “You’re so good, so good for me. So hot like this. Gonna make you scream for me, sweetheart.”

Poe could feel something like that building, though he was trying to hold onto it. They were in the open air, practically, and Ewoks lived in the trees up here, and they didn’t need to know what humans sounded like when they were having fantastic sex. “Finn, buddy, please—” Poe protested, and actually blushed, but Finn only grinned.

This was the only thing that let Finn know he was under the influence of some narcotic: the desperate need to fuck Poe until his dick fell off, and the desire to let the world know that he was fucking Poe until his dick fell off. He remembered being embarrassed before, and couldn’t even think now why he ever should be. “Come on, Poe, let me hear you.”

Okay, this was fair. Poe deserved this. He was the one always encouraging Finn to be vocal, and he didn’t really have a problem being vocal, just not _that_ vocal. “Finn, you—hhnnnyeah, fuck!” he cried, letting himself go a little as he grasped Finn’s iron bicep. Finn just kept going, like a machine, slick slapping noises keeping time like a drum beat. Was Poe getting a contact high from Finn somehow? “Shit, Finn, you—buddy, I love you, I feel—it feels—Finn!” he cried, giving a good shout, and Finn _smiled_ and bent him in half and whatever was happening before was somehow a prelude, because now Finn was _really_ fucking him.

“Oh my gods, Finn!” Poe cried, feeling on the edge again himself. “Fuck! Yes! Stars, kriffing—Maker!” he swore, and dug his fingernails into Finn’s shoulders as he came, which was only fair because Finn had a hand around his throat to draw him into a bruising kiss as _he_ came, and sure, their Force bond was dimmed when Rey wasn’t around, but Poe still saw fire when he and Finn orgasmed together, and they roared into each others ears, and then were silent, and panting, and trembling, and, now, still.

“Finn,” Poe croaked, shell-shocked. “Buddy, you—okay? All good?”

Finn, feeling like himself at last, nodded and eased himself up on one elbow to kiss the red marks on Poe’s throat. “Yeah. You?”

“Oh, hell, yeah,” Poe said, before Finn could feel even a bit guilty, and he was so enthusiastic and quick with his answer that Finn laughed.

“You’re insane,” he said, and kissed his lips. “But I love you.”

Once feeling came back to the rest of his body, Finn pulled out, drawing gasps from them both, and lowered Poe’s legs back to the bed before laying down on top of Poe again and nuzzling him, feeling finally sated, relaxed in a way he seldom was, even after sex. It was probably whatever crazy herb that they had been burning...

"Wanna snuggle you," he told Poe. "Must be the drugs. I think we're going to have to stay up here and sleep it off." He smiled innocently, the sweet, shy smile that he knew neither of his affianced could resist.

"Finn," Poe agreed, wrapping his arms around Finn as they lay together, and scratching his back. "You okay, buddy? Don't want to go again?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows. "Or you got the munchies?" Poe was definitely teasing him now.

Finn groaned and buried his face against Poe's back. "Nnnnno. Wanna snuggle. And sleep. Got you right where I want you," he said, his voice muffled and soft. He kissed Poe's nose and chin. "Rey gonna be here soon?" he asked, and then sighed happily.

Poe melted a bit more at each kiss, until he felt totally boneless. "Yeah, she will. When Rey gets here, we'll make a Finn sandwich, because _I'm_ hungry," Poe said, and then giggled. He felt a bit more relaxed than he probably should, actually. "Hm, is it possible to get a contact high from swallowing your—"

"Poe," Finn snorted, "You're ruining the moment." He bit his ear softly but wasn't up to much retaliation. He nuzzled Poe's hair instead because it was soft and smelled nice.

"I'm _enhancing_ the moment," Poe corrected. "Anyway if you don't want a spouse as hilarious as me, it's not too late." Then he really laughed at himself and settled down, pulling Finn over the top of him. "Do you need water? I think there’s some in my bag, but I’m not sure my legs work.”

“Poe,” Finn said, lifting his head again to glare.

“Calm down, I’m kidding. Here—” he said, and reached, and handed Finn a pouch of water. “Drink this. I hope Rey brings a blanket," he hummed, but the air was warm, and he closed his eyes.

Finn managed a few sips before snugging Poe down under him, tucking him close and sighing contentedly before resting his head on his chest. "Never stop being hilarious," he told him, and then he, too, closed his eyes.

...

_Fifty-six days before the wedding._

...

They had to fly around to find some place that wasn't thick with trees so they could land, and they ended up using an old Imperial (and presumably, new First Order) landing platform, and had to hike in, so it was the middle of the night when Rey and Chewie and Luke arrived.

This was Bright Tree Village, though, so someone was always awake. Chief Wicket was beside himself to see Luke again, so he had stayed up to wait, and started up a shout when the trio pushed their way through the foliage. Some of the small stormtroopers were up, still, too, though most had fallen asleep by now. They initially shied away from the man and woman with the lightsabers, but seemed to associate furry = friend, so Chewie was particularly interesting (and Chewie was a complete softie around children, having just been home to meet his newest great-grandwookling).

Timons greeted Rey brightly, though, and introduced her to a few of the sleepy stormtroopers.

"The Major and the Commander are up there," Timons said, pointing to a tall ladder to a high treehouse. "Uh. I'm not sure you want to go up there yet," she said with a blush.

"Why's that?" Rey asked.

"Well. I think they were—you know. Because the they sampled some, uhh, natural pharmaceuticals..." she tried, as if this explained everything.

"Finn got high and it made him weird," Deeks reported, but when Rey looked at him like he was speaking gibberish, he sighed. "They went up there to have sex. Loudly. But we had a successful mission! Look at all these kiddos!"

Rey looked at some of the small ex-troopers and gave them a small wave. Then she turned to Deeks. "... _Why_ did Finn get high?" she asked, and for the first time, Deeks looked distressed. Timons patted him on the shoulder and he looked over at her.

"Jess got hurt and they were helping her, but they kicked the rest of us out," he said, unhelpfully.

"There was a ritual of some sort, involving burning vegetation and singing and the Force and non-synthetic bacta. She'll be fine."

Rey pursed her lips as if she might have prevented this had she been present. She sighed. "No other casualties?" she asked finally.

"Not other than the stormtrooper who stabbed Jess. Sevens uh...took care of that one," Deeks said, and then he yawned.

"Small miracles. Go sleep, kid," Rey said, and he scowled at her.

"Not a kid," he grumbled, and then he wandered off. Rey and Timons watched him go, and then Rey looked over at Timons.

"You want to go up there, or are you staying here? I could introduce you to the little ones who are still awake, or there's food if you're hungry," Timons offered. She was doing a fidgety thing with her hands.

"Are you okay?" Rey asked her, and she looked surprised.

She froze and then shrugged, dropping her hands to her sides. "I'm fine."

Rey raised her eyebrows at her.

"I am. I'm fine. I'm—dealing with it." She sighed. "They're just so little. None of them has the slightest idea how to be a child. None of us do, but. I worry about them," she admitted softly, and Rey reached to squeeze her shoulder in reassurance.

"We'll do everything we can to teach them. At least for now we've given them safety," she said, and Timons nodded, so Rey continued. "I'm going to go make sure no one has sustained injuries up there," she said, which earned her a crooked grin from Timons.

"Find me if you need me. I'm sleeping over there," she responded, waving to a little clear space on the ground that was dappled with moonlight.

"Same goes for you. I'm glad you're here," Rey told the ex-stormtrooper, and then she scrambled up the ladder to check on her affianced.

When Rey reached the top of the ladder, things didn't look nearly as bad as she thought. Their clothes were thrown _everywhere_ , though that was really only unusual for Finn, and they were huddled in one corner, Finn more or less on top of Poe, both of them smiling in their sleep. She smiled to herself, and was about to join them when Finn opened his eyes.

"Rey!" he said sleepily, and he shifted to hold his hand out toward her. "Come sleep, it's too early to be awake and we missed you," he told her. Poe was still tucked under him, although he had freed his arms and one was thrown over Finn's back. They could all three totally fit on this tiny pile of furs and leaves—they just had to put some effort into it.

Rey smiled and kissed Finn. "I heard you had some fun. And you didn't wait for me? I'm afraid I'll have to punish you both for that," she hummed playfully, though she was secretly a bit relieved that they were tired out right now, as she got a blanket from her pack and slung it over them.

Poe, an awkward twist of limbs, sighed happily and blinked awake. "Oh! Rey, you're here! How's dad? How's Sammy? How's you?"

"Good, good, and good," Rey reported with a laugh.

Finn squirmed until he was next to Poe instead of on top of him, and Rey pulled off her boots and tunic, then her trousers as well. Poe and Finn gazed up at her as she stretched lazily, all lean, willowy muscle.

"You're beautiful," Finn said softly, and Rey laughed and knelt on his other side.

"Timons told me you got high for the first time," she told him. Then she looked over at Poe. "I think we should get some," she said. It would probably feel amazing through their bond.

"I already told Finn to get me some for my 40th birthday. Maybe even my 35th." But then Poe got up on an elbow. "But it might make you want sex or something you don’t want?"

"It also did something weird with the Force," Finn reported. "Or, I think it was the Force." Finn and Poe slotted together so close that when Rey laid down, her slim body was covering both of them, and she wrapped both arms around them.

"He's trying to distract you from how insatiable he was," Poe teased. "He was _wild_ I tell you, Rey, I feared for my _life_!" he cried, so exaggerated that neither of them could take him seriously—for of course, Finn _had_ been his usual reserved self, the drugs having messed only with his desires, not his self-control.

"You know, I was wondering where these came from,” Rey said, marking out hand-prints and teeth-marks on Poe’s skin. “And I didn't say _I_ was going to get high. You two being high will be more than enough for me. Besides, someone has to be...in charge," Rey said as she tucked both of her boys close and kissed them. Bundled under the blankets, they were all three comfortably warm.

Poe yawned. "Aw, then why'd you got my hopes up?" he whined, but he was grinning stupidly and flung an arm around her.

"I missed you," she told them, after a few minutes. "It was hard, leaving Sam. But he loves your dad." She nuzzled Finn's shoulder, smiling at his familiar scent—even if at the moment it tended more toward 'I haven't had a shower in several days' than he really preferred. It meant he was here, and her arm over Poe's side and hand on his ribs reminded her that he, too, was with her and safe. "I'm glad everyone is okay."

"We missed you, too." Poe missed Sam, but their son would be happier and much safer with his dad. "And yeah, we're all fine, except Jess. I'll go check on her in the morning."

"Late morning," Rey said.

Poe laughed. "Sure, love. Finn's gonna be sore as hell tomorrow. I will be, too."

...

The next morning when she awoke, Rey noticed that Finn was already awake and staring at the ceiling. Poe was draped across him and Rey was tucked against his side under his arm. He was scratching her shoulder gently without apparently realizing it, but eventually he noticed she was watching him. He looked over and slightly down at her.

"You're thinking awfully hard," Rey said quietly, and he smiled.

"Thinking about the kids. I don't know what we're going to do with them," Finn said.

"What did Leia say?" Rey asked, assuming they had spoken with her.

"She's talking to some people. We didn't anticipate so _many_. Or quite so _young_. They must be trying to fill ranks after Starkiller," he said. Rey patted his chest and leaned up to kiss his chin.

"Well. How many can _we_ reasonably adopt?" Rey asked.

Poe huffed, revealing that he was awake, as well. "You, too?" he grinned and stretched and unfolded his body from the strange position he was sleeping in.

"I mean, I could talk to some of my family on Yavin, probably get a few of them adopted out. The General was talking about sending them all to an orphanage—a good one, that would be no problem—but they...these kids will have special needs. They may have trouble, behavior issues, who knows? One of them could kill any normal kid with their training." Poe scrunched his eyes shut. "They're so young, and yet not young enough. If it was just a little neglect and some indoctrination they could unlearn that, maybe, but..." he trailed off. "Maybe they are young enough to unlearn it. It'll take a lot of hard work and love. And maybe they'll never be normal. Look at Finn," he said, lips turning up in a joke, and he and Rey laughed.

Finn pursed his lips and in the driest voice he could manage, stated, "I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm the most normal person I know." Then he laughed softly and squeezed his affianced to his sides. "If it weren't the middle of a war, we could offer to take some of the ones who will have more trouble... But we can't do that to them.” Certainly not after dropping their own kid off to stay with grandpa. “They need stability, at least. Preferably, they need to not be raised on a Resistance base that might be attacked any day." He stared at the roof of woven sticks awhile longer and then sighed tiredly—but it had nothing to do with actually being sleepy. "I want to keep up with them, and make sure they're okay, and want for nothing I can give them."

"It's a shame this war is taking you away from being a full-time dad," Rey decided, looking at Finn and petting his hair. "You're going to be good at it."

Poe smiled gently, staring off into space, and nodded. "She's right. All our kids are going to be amazing, and it's not gonna be because of me or Rey."

"Well, maybe a little bit from me," Rey teased, and leaned over to kiss Poe's cheek. "Just kidding. We're all good parents. Which is what we'll keep telling ourselves after just having dropped him off with his grandpa indefinitely." Rey scowled.

"Okay, let's get up, come on," Poe said, tipping them both over. "How you feeling, Finno? No weird after-effects? Ooh, _oh_ , yeah, and I’m sore," he reported, staggering to his hands and knees.

He was being dramatic, so Rey and Finn both ignored him. Mostly. Rey slapped his ass. 

Finn grumbled at being made to get up, but Rey leaned over and kissed his cheek, so he guessed he could deal with it. He sat up and stretched and determined that there was no residual weirdness in his head or soreness he hadn't expected.

"Doesn't seem to be. But I'm really hungry," he answered, "Hungrier than I would have thought." And now he was very ready to get up and put clothes on and go figure out how to feed himself and all the kids without eating the Ewoks out of treehouse and home.

Poe laughed at that, loudly, and once he started he couldn't stop, and ended up guffawing until he nearly cried. "Sorry. I'm sorry. It's not funny. It's really not," he giggled. "Finn just has the munchies and that's _hilarious_."

Rey finally shoved him when he was trying to hop into his pants, and that sobered him and they made their way down the ladder.

Breakfast was already in full swing: Ewoks ate a mostly Human-friendly diet (Wicket assured Poe that _eating Humans_ was an old tradition and they ‘didn’t eat other sentients anymore,’ and he supposed had seen the bodies of the dead adult stormtroopers being burned, not cooked, so that was something), consisting of a lot of meat, a lot of fruits and veg and nuts, and insects. Poe passed on the latter, though Rey and Finn both tried them, and Rey actually liked them so much that Poe ended up giving it a taste.

The small stormtroopers were in the middle of completely losing their minds over the new flavors, as only small stormtroopers could, and it was wonderful to see.

Finn tracked down the shaman as soon as he could to inquire about Jess, and was treated to a somewhat smug, entirely too knowing smile, and he hadn't even known he could read that expression on a furry Ewok face.

[Your friend will be fine. The warrior you call Sevens will see to that. They have not yet allowed Jess to move—but they did come get food to take back to her] the Ewok said, and Finn decided he'd let the pilot and her guardian alone.

"Thank you," he told him, and bowed respectfully. He'd lost track of Poe in the milling about, but Rey was with Timons, and they were surrounded by small stormtroopers, some of whom were actually speaking to Rey and some of whom were still watching warily. But a quick headcount told him that while some of the children had isolated themselves with very small groups of two or three Ewoks, all of them were being supervised and taken care of. They looked...happy, or as happy as you could expect them to look.

"Finn, there you are," Poe said, coming over to Finn with a little girl hiked up onto his hip—the very little girl who had yesterday kicked him in the face, in fact, her head now resting on his shoulder while she chewed on some kind of insect.

"Okay, finally got a transmission from the General. She said she's got some senate contacts who can take the kids. Sounds like a pretty sweet setup, though I'm not sure they believe us that these are stormtroopers. I think they are refusing to hear anything other than 'war orphans' but what else is new. They'll be taken care of. It's on Corellia. Good place to grow up. You can take them on the _Falcon_ and I'll follow in _Black One_...Finn?" Poe realized he had been talking a long time and Finn hadn't reacted. "That okay?"

Finn blinked and turned to look at Poe and the little girl he was holding on his hip. It was _cute_ , and he had the urge to hug them both, but instead he smiled and waved at the girl, who blinked at him before giving him a hesitant wave in return. Still shy, then.

"They'll have...people who will talk to them, right? And hold them when they have nightmares, or sing to them?" he asked. He wanted to ask if they would all be separated, scattered with nothing and no one familiar and expected to get to work on being normal. He would hope Leia wouldn't ever send them somewhere that would happen, but how were they to be certain that when the war orphans turned out to be child soldiers they wouldn't be treated like prisoners of war?

Poe was struck by how deeply tender Finn was: how caring, and how kind. Finn of the Large Heart was right. He wanted these kids to be _happy_ , not just taken care of, which was, on the one hand, impossible, but also not asking a lot in the scheme of things. “Buddy, I don’t—” Poe began.

Finn was stopped short in this increasingly disastrous spiral by a bump to the side of his legs. BB-8 whistled at him in concern and bobbled to indicate an approaching Ewok.

[You have found parents for the children?] the Ewok asked. Finn wasn't sure, but she might have been the chief's mother.

"Something like that. We found people who Leia trusts who will take care of them," Finn answered.

The old Ewok shook her head.

[We will take them. We will adopt them into this village. All of the children—not Deeks, he would have no desire to stay. But the small ones. They will be safe here, and cared for. When they are older, they will learn to be warriors—or healers, or whatever their hearts call them to do] she told him.

Finn's jaw dropped a little in disbelief, but the Ewok was serious.

Wicket went so far as to amble over, trailed by three of the littlest ex-stormtroopers, and corroborate: "There will be an official ceremony. You are, of course, invited to stay," he told them.

Finn could have hugged him. Instead, he bowed low and held out a hand.

" _Thank you_ ," he told the Chief, who patted his hand warmly, but otherwise said nothing.

"That—wait—" Poe stuttered, but it seemed already decided. He remembered his dad’s stories about almost getting _eaten_ by the Ewoks of Bright Tree Village, but, well, if the Empire hadn’t considered them sentients, it stood to reason that the Ewoks hadn’t necessarily considered humans sentient, either. That appeared to have changed.

Poe followed Finn to join Rey and the others. Timons was teaching them a game, and Sevens was helping Jess out of their hut, doting over her sweetly.

"Okay, but this is a political SNAFU waiting to happen,” Poe hissed in protest. “No way the General goes for this. There'll be senators from the Human worlds freaking out about this. Thirty years ago the Ewoks still _ate people_!”  

“That’s a major taboo now, Poe, and you know it,” Finn snapped.

"And what else can we do with them?" Rey wondered. "This sounds a lot better than an orphanage. They can stay together, here. And a warrior culture like this will probably be less of a culture shock.”  

Poe sighed. "No, I know this is the best for them. But some people wouldn't think so.” His dad, for one. “And fuck them, but..."

Poe glanced out over the happy village. It was kind of a wonderful sight. "It's a perfect fit all around." Poe ran a hand through the little girl's hair, and she buried her face against his chest. He sighed again. They couldn’t keep them all, no matter how much he wanted to.

"And if the senators want to start something, we can point out that if they really cared about the war orphans beyond their potential use as political tools, they'd be overjoyed to know that the kids were in the best place for them," Finn said. He was very much prepared to fight anyone who thought they had the right to dictate how the Resistance dealt with small ex-stormtroopers. They could be happy here, and they would be safe and loved. Poe was right—it was a perfect solution all around.

"We should go tell them," Finn said, and Rey looked over at him and smiled. Then she turned to Poe and the little girl.

"Want to come help us, little one?" she asked, and the girl regarded her solemnly for a moment before nodding.

"Only if Poe can come," she said. The way she was clinging to Poe, he wasn't going to have much choice.

As Finn went to find Rokko and Poe and the little girl moved off another direction to talk to a group, Rey was sure they would absolutely come back and visit.

[Come, we will tell the group over there] Wicket said, and nodded to several older children and an Ewok with a simple crossbow. Rey grinned.

Deeks and Sevens and Nova and Tova were delighted, but Timons was upset because now she was torn.

"You don't owe us anything, Time," Poe said, keeping her preferred distance away. "You could stay, and be with all these kiddos. And no one's gonna tell you you can't."

She nodded, and thought about it, and her chin trembled.

"But there will be more," she finally said. "I need to be there for all of them." Poe got the feeling that she was the happiest among them that the Ewoks were going to adopt them all, and would have fought them the most on the orphanage situation, which, okay, would have been bad.

"The Resistance needs someone like you," he assured her, and left the little girl with her.

[Are you staying for the ceremony? It is tonight.] Chieftainess Kneesaa asked him when he turned around.

"Oh, I, uh. I think we should be getting back?" Poe said.

"There's gonna be more ceremonial herb burning," Dr. Lan warned, and Poe laughed.

[These make you smell colors and see time] Kneesaa told him enthusiastically.

"Got it," Poe said, grinning. "But unfortunately, I gotta fly later," and that officially did not sound like a good mix.

Rokko was inconsolable when he heard Finn was leaving and not taking him with them. It was very hard to tell with an ex-stormtrooper child, of course, because he didn't scream or cry or even yell.

Finn hadn't quite expected Rokko to just—shut down. It wasn't that he was crying or even outwardly showing any emotion at all. But then, that was kind of exactly the problem. He'd gone from passing for fairly normal to absolutely nothing in the time it took Finn to tell him that he would be staying here. "Buddy...I'm sorry. The middle of a war just isn't a safe place for a kid," Finn said, trying to reason with him. “The First Order had that wrong.”

"I don't care! I want to be with you! I want to fight them!" Rokko shouted, and then seemed afraid of his own outburst.

"You _will_ be fighting them. But you'll be doing it here, because they need you here. Could you do that for me?" Finn said, and Rokko watched him warily. "Your brothers and sisters need you here to help look after them." This seemed to get Rokko's attention, but Finn still wasn't forgiven.

"You said you never leave a brother behind," he said finally, his voice very small, and Finn's heart about broke. He crouched and held out an arm, and Rokko threw his arms around his neck and leaned on him, face buried against his chest.

"I did say that—and I meant it. You're not being left behind, Rokko. We'll come back to visit and make sure everything is working out. You're very brave. I know this isn't what you want," he said to the little boy, who had apparently decided he was clinging to Finn forever. Wrapping his arms around the boy, Finn stood and hugged Rokko to him. "But your brothers and sisters need you more than you need me."

Eventually, the boy sniffed. "Fine. I'll stay, but you better come back."

Finn smiled. "Thanks, buddy. Wanna go see the others?" Rokko nodded, but did not want to be put down, so Finn carried him.

"All right guys, pack up, I wanna be out of here in an hour. These people have some adopting to do," Poe said over the Resistance comlink channel. He set the girl down because Wicket was now sharing sweets of some kind (he thought it was a sap candy) and there was much excitement. The small Humans were already picking up more Ewok words and phrases than Poe knew.

"Dr. Lan, what's your prognosis on this?" he asked. "Do you think you should—or do you want to—stay?"

Tamo Lan laughed. "Certainly not! These children won't need a psychiatrist as long as they live—provided the Republic doesn't come in here and try to take them away later," she told him firmly, and Poe kind of wondered if he could just never write an official report about this ever. "We're a warrior people, and they were raised to fight. But here they will be loved, too. And that will make all the difference." Dr. Lan looked up at him wryly. "You know I had to leave Endor because only societies with a great deal of dysfunction need psychologists, right?"

"Ha-ha," Poe said, but she was right. "So you're coming back with us? That's good. Because it was going to be hard to explain your disappearance if we want this mission to never have happened, which I'm starting to think—"

"Poe!" Rey called, and Poe looked up to see her trying to get his attention. She and Finn were sitting on a log away from the others, poring over a datapad.

Dr. Lan waved Poe away, and he nodded to her before joining them. "What's up, buddies?"

"Finn wants us to do something before we leave. And I _like_ it!"

...

Finn directed Rey back to the minefield, and she brought the _Falcon_ to a hover. "That it?" she asked, and he nodded.

[They kept them in with mines?] Chewie asked, and then growled.

"Let's get to it, then," Rey said, and flicked the comm switch so she could talk to Poe. "Could you got a little closer? It'll take all three of us to make this work," she said, at the same time holding her hand out to Finn. He leaned against her seat and bent to kiss her cheek.

"They're all over the field, so they should be easy to find," he told her, and she grinned wickedly.

"This is probably the best idea you've ever had. It's going to make _such a mess_ ," she said, and then she cackled, which Finn found simultaneously delightful and disconcerting. Mostly delightful.

"Oh, sure! Laugh it up," Poe's voice crackled across the comlink. "X-wings were absolutely designed for upside-down hovering in atmo." It was the only way he could properly _see_ what was going on, but BB-8 was freaking out a bit, too.

[My gyroscopes don't like being upside down! All the oil is rushing to my dome!]

There was a knock at the door of the cockpit.

"I—I feel like you need an adult in there," came Luke's voice. "Or at least another pilot."

"You might need plausible deniability," Rey said, and raised one hand out in front of her, clutching Finn's hand in the other. "Poe, don't go too far. I need you."

"Yup, I'm here, doll." He couldn't exactly hover _upside-down_ , not even _he_ was that good, but they could do a slow circle. Gods, the fuel this was burning. Leia was gonna kill him.

"Okay. Metals. Not many of those on this planet," Rey said, closing her eyes and reaching out with the Force, and directing it down, and yanking up on things that were heavy.

"Don't!" Finn yelped—

"I know," she said, making sure to keep the firing mechanisms depressed as they came free of the earth. As more and more came up, now hovering about 5 meters off the ground—too high, too close, but it helped if they were near her.

"Whoa," Poe said, awed again by how—sort of freakishly, scarily powerful Rey was. He'd seen her throw an AT-AT with the Force, but then she had been mad, and scared, and he figured it was like adrenaline making her more powerful.

She was doing _this_ —dancing a dozen, thirteen, fifteen, now nearly twenty anti-personnel thermal detonator land mines in the air—powerful enough to take out both their ships if she screwed up—stone cold sober.

Finn watched in silence as Rey rearranged the mines, lining them up in a new configuration. She was breathing hard when she finally finished.

"Think we should stop before I get too dizzy to hold 'em," she mumbled, and Finn squeezed her shoulder.

"It's perfect, set them down gently and—Chewie, can you get us to a safe distance?" he asked. "Did you catch that, Poe? Just follow us so you don't get too far away." Chewie nodded, and Finn waited for confirmation from Poe while Rey floated the mines back to the ground.

"Yup. Looked good from my angle before I blacked out," Poe joked (he hadn't been near blacking out, though he was getting a bit dizzy).

[Please don't detonate them yet!!] BB-8 trilled, urging their pilot to go faster.

"Okay—it's getting—harder," Rey grunted, pressing them to the earth now, depressing the trigger plates, concentrating on all of them.

[We're out of range now] Chewie purred, and with a gasp and a rush that made their ears pop, Rey let them go.

Explosions rocked the forest floor behind them, destroying most of the base and—

"Haha!" Poe whooped, riding the wave and righting himself in a few flips. "Oh, it looks _beautiful_ , sweethearts! Ohh, Phasma's gonna have pittins when she sees this!" he cackled.

Finn leaned back to let Luke in. He was standing at the door with his arms folded. "You're all too old for this. You especially," he told Chewie, who shrugged.

"I mean, it took care of the mines," Finn pointed out.

Sevens poked their head around the door. "With no due respect, sirs. We'd appreciate a smoother ride back here," they snapped.

"Sorry," Rey said. "Everyone buckled in back there? I'll just—take a nap before we—"

Luke sighed. "Finn, go take Rey to lie down in the back. Han did always say I could only fly the _Falcon_ over his dead body..."

Chewie laughed, because only because the Wookiee knew Han would have appreciated a joke like that. Luke sat in the pilot's chair, with Chewie assisting.

"All right, Master Skywalker, on your mark," Poe said. "I'm going to sleep all the way back to base."

And as the two starships broke atmosphere and then shot away into hyperspace, the Ewoks and their adopted woklings jumped up and down and cheered and waved, and from his tower in the tallest tree of Bright Tree Village, Chief Wicket could look out and see where the First Order blight had once been, and in its place he saw two numbers carved into the earth. His written Basic wasn’t very good, but numbers were universal:

Eight and seven.

And by the time the First Order returned (sending only a small shuttle to determine what had happened, not to rebuild) blue flowers were growing in the furrows.

Chief Wicket and his people taught their human woklings the names of all the flowers on Endor, but these blue ones, the forget-me-nots, were always their favorites.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Eight-Seven' is the closest thing to a name Finn had in the First Order.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thirty-two days before the wedding.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Rey complained, adjusting her dress again. It definitely didn’t cover enough of her body, and hung low in the back—though she did like how it sparkled.

“You just hate those shoes,” Poe said, fussing with the finicky ties on his tunic. A wardrobe made for aristocrats, impossible to be put on without help, had just read as a challenge to Poe. “You still don’t have to wear the ones with heels if you don’t want.”

“But _you’re_ wearing them,” Rey said, taking that as her own challenge. It was fashionable for all genders to wear high-heeled shoes on Mandalore, at least in the capitol, and she was just going to do it. She had to look the part.

They were going undercover. The Resistance had a lead on a substantial source of funding that looked traceable to a senator on Corellia—one who was supposed to be supporting the Resistance. The only problem was that they lacked certainty—and they needed to be sure before they did something as minor as insult an ally or as enormous as plant some counterintelligence.

After they had taken care of the facilities on Endor, the First Order kept them on their toes, and weeks passed by in a blur. The Resistance never had to move base, but staying ahead of the enemy, and using their hard-won intel against them, was more than a full-time job.

Between bombing runs and scouting missions, there were always intelligence-gathering missions, filling in a few holes in Timons' information. With a more complete understanding of the First Order's plans, they had been able to intercept a raid for children before the kidnappers had even left the planet with their cargo. Timons was able to see children reunited with their parents, and it seemed to give her a fierce strength she'd been lacking.

With several more groups of recently liberated stormtroopers, the Stormtrooper Recovery program was currently at peak capacity, integrating those who wanted to be part of the Resistance, so that their numbers continued to grow.

No one knew where Snoke was hiding out, of course. Rey went so far as actively trying to draw Kylo Ren out (with Luke's help, or at least with his approval. More or less. He hadn't said _no_...) but had no luck at all. _No one_ saw Kylo Ren, although they did scare up some of his knights, and Finn had a near run-in with Phasma.

Still, their net was closing. If nothing else, Resistance forces were were very efficiently and ruthlessly destroying potential back-up bases for the so-called Supreme Leader.

But _now_ they were stuck en route to the richest district of Corellia. They hadn’t even landed yet and Rey was sure she wouldn’t fit in.

“I’m endangering the mission, I shouldn’t have come,” she said, frustrated with her hair already. “I’m no good at this fancy stuff, Poe. You and Finn do all the talking for a reason. Why can’t I just stay outside the stupid party and make sure this Mald guy’s fancy yacht doesn’t go anywhere?”

“You’ll ruin your dress!” Poe protested. “Your fancy dress.”

Now Finn had entered, fully kitted out in Mandalorian armor, which was about twice as expensive as Rey’s dress—and only the breastplate and helmet were genuine. Their ground crew had actually fashioned the greaves and the rest out of old scrap metal, but it would be passable. They were going to some Corellian cocktail party fundraiser shindig, not Mandalore itself, so it was unlikely that they would run into any actual Mandalorians.

“Why can’t I be the one in the armor and Finn wears the fancy dress?”

“Look, as gorgeous as Finn would be in that slinky silver thing, he _definitely_ wouldn’t pass as a Mandalorian. I barely pass unless you’re with me. I look like I’m from Concord Dawn.”

Mandalore, already problematic during the Old Republic, when it was governed by the fair-skinned, fair-haired Mandalorians, had only gotten more racist during Imperial government, not only towards non-humans, but towards non-light-skinned-fair-haired humans.

“Also,” Poe added, “we don’t know whether this guy prefers men or women, or both, so I need you.”

“Ew. I still can’t believe that’s our plan,” Rey frowned. “I can barely have sex with you two and you want me to—”

“We are _only flirting_ ,” Poe reminded them. “Harmless flirting, get him sauced, see if he talks, distract him while Finn looks through Mald's logs for anything First-Order-suspicious.”

Poe thought about that, and laughed. “Though I should probably warn you that even _regular_ politicians are usually fairly corrupt, buddy…”

Kalla Mald was one of the five senators of Corellia, the one that Timons and the General both agreed was most likely of the Resistance senatorial supporters to be leaking their information—as well as monetary support—to the First Order, which they doubly-suspected after Finn’s “conversation” with Terex.

Finn went to Rey and put his hands on her shoulders. In her heels, she was taller than him, so he bounced to his toes just enough to give her a quick kiss. "You should keep that dress.” He smiled softly, and Rey frowned at him. “It suits you.”

"You're completely shameless," she laughed, regarding the puppy dog look he was giving her, and he chuckled.

"Anyway, Poe is right. We just need him distracted while I work," he said. "You two about ready to go?"

"Yeah—just as soon as I get these damned—fiddly—ties tied," Poe grumbled, now struggling in earnest, and Rey stepped in, glaring at him if he tried to tell her to stop. "Hey," he said instead. "You're taller than me and we're both in heels. How's that fair?"

Rey grinned. "Mine are bigger?"

"Ooh," Poe said. "Sexy. You see, you're an excellent flirt. Just remember, all men secretly want to be pegged by their girlfriends at least—ow!"

Rey had whacked him lightly in the arm.

"Come on, sweetheart, I'm just trying to make Finn so jealous he just has to kiss us and mess up your lipstick."

"Oh!" Rey said brightly. "Then we can stay in here while I fix it? Maybe all night?"

Poe sighed, beaten at his own game. "Okay, no, we need to go," he said sullenly. "Finn, how's the armor?"

"It's terrible and I hate it. No offense to the ones who made it—how come I'm always the one in armor?" Finn answered.

Rey looked over at him and laughed. "It's because you're our knight in shining armor!"

She shrugged, then and added as an afterthought, "Also, Poe has A Thing. We all know this." Finn grumbled, and Rey took pity on him, stepping close and leaning against his chest, armor and all. She kissed him softly, so as not to mess up her lipstick.

Poe folded his arms. "Okay, yes, Finn cuts a figure in armor that we could never hope to compete with. How does that not _do_ anything for you?" he demanded of Rey, motioning to Finn.

"I mean...I like his _face_ ," Rey pointed out.

"Okay, thanks, now I look like an asshole, guess I'm sleeping on the couch, that's fine," Poe grumbled. "Would it make you feel better to land us, dearest?"

Rey and Finn both laughed at this, and Rey reached to pull Poe into their hug. They stood quietly with each other for a few breaths, and then Rey sighed and reluctantly pulled away.

"Yes. You two be careful," she said.

"Tell Finn to be careful. I’m your responsibility," Poe said, kissing Finn before Finn pulled the helmet on over his face.

"Okay, we got wrist coms and ear coms, we stay in contact. No one ruin their fancy clothes. Uh, how's my accent?" Poe asked Rey, switching to what amounted to a very corny High Basic accent that was not at all a match to hers.

She frowned.

"Okay, okay, I can do better. Oh, yes, duh, there'll be valet docking," Poe said. "Finn, you'll call this in, they'll want to think you're our driver, too," he said, motioning Finn to the ship's communications.

"This is the yacht _Firefly_ from Mandalore requesting permission to land," Finn said into the dedicated channel for fundraiser guests—they'd really pulled all the stops for this thing, taking over one of the local comm channels for air traffic.

"Permission granted. Please have your identification ready to show the ground crew," a bored voice replied. Finn had somehow been expecting more difficulty, and he looked over at Poe and Rey and raised his eyebrows.

Poe nodded. All their papers were in order. "Lady Gabii Rellet and Captain Napoleon Olos," said the platform officer, reading their manifest and barely looking at them. "Welcome to the Capitol. This walkway will take you to the hotel—signs point the way to this evening’s gala."

Glittering lights and people were everywhere, and they walked under a beautiful fountain that shot water over the walkway above their heads. Finn walked a few paces behind them, with Poe and Rey arm in arm.

"We should have got you some long gloves," Poe teased in a whisper to help her calm down. "You've got more muscles than all of these people combined."

"My ally is the Force," she reminded him.

"Then start acting like it. Look at these people like you're better than them.” Poe kissed her hand. “Because you are."

Finn quietly admired the view (because how could he not? Rey and Poe cut fine figures, as well) and smiled, the expression hidden behind his helmet, at Poe's quiet encouragement to Rey.

When they reached the doorway to the actual party, another security officer checked their invitations and gave Finn a long, inquiring look. Finn held motionless until Poe turned to him and, in a haughty tone that made Finn's mouth go dry, said, "You may join the other bodyguards. Try not to get into any trouble."

Finn smiled so hard he nearly laughed, because of course 'trouble' was exactly what they were planning on causing, even if their host didn't find out about it until long after they'd left. He gave a small half-bow and stepped to the side, joining a group of variously armed and armored guards.

Poe dared to wink at Finn as they separated, and he felt a little bad that Finn wouldn't get to enjoy the hors d'oeuvres, and definitely disappointed that none of them would get to enjoy the alcohol.

Rey was getting fed, though, and that made her happy as they looked for their contact.

"We shouldn't go after him right away. Make him come to us."

"Not a problem. The food is really good," Rey said, already stuffing her face, and shoving a small pastry at Poe. “Have you tried these? They’re delicious!”

"Okay, _between bites_ , let's figure out what dirt we can get on the senators, or anyone else here. Here's your credit stick, buy as many drinks for people as you can."

He raised his voice louder as he kissed her cheek. "Now, honey, don't do anyone I wouldn't do!"

This got a chorus of laughter from a troupe of gorillas that were just the men Poe needed to be talking to if they laughed at _that_.

…

For nearly an hour, Finn watched Rey and Poe eat delicate little hors d'oeuvres (Rey) and pretend to drink excessive amounts of alcohol (Poe). He listened to the gossip among his fellow guards, but there wasn't much interesting—at least, not that he didn't already know.

It wasn’t until,  over the hum of conversation, a strident voice could be heard insulting General Organa, that Finn nearly stepped in—though he wasn’t sure whether he was going to shut the person up himself or stop Poe and Rey from doing the same.

Poe, predictably, actually had forgotten himself and was several steps to blowing their cover when Rey reached for his arm and stopped him, giggling and leaning on him as if slightly drunk. She sought Finn out across the room and waved him off, giggling as she threw an arm around Poe’s shoulders. To everyone else, it looked like a drunk noble telling her concerned bodyguard that she didn’t need his help—in other words, nothing remotely unusual for this sort of gathering.

Finn sighed and returned to his post, grumbling to the other bodyguards and receiving a few sympathetic head-shakes and eyerolls in return. He was glad no one seemed to have noticed, but he was also becoming very bored of standing around and waiting.He passed some time counting to one hundred by fours and back down to zero by sevens. Then he disassembled and reassembled a blaster in his head…watched Poe and Rey flirt some more…watched Rey nearly tear someone’s arm off when they got a little too friendly…

The other bodyguards elbowed him at the small ruckus _that_ caused, but no one moved to prevent her from slapping the guy, so either he was unguarded or his bodyguard wasn’t particularly worried. When everything had calmed down, he cleared his throat and turned away from the group of guards to survey the room.

"Think you guys could hurry it along?" he murmured softly,just as the host stepped in to greet Rey and Poe and encourage them to donate to his campaign.

"Delicate work," Poe hissed into his comlink, pretending to play with his moustache. "Especially when your fiancée needs to keep you from starting a fight."

Then his voice got louder as the senator greeted them. "Senator Mald, what a smashing party, why, it almost reminds me of your last fundraiser, at the limmie galaxy cup? Corellian team is looking fine this year...."

Luckily the man's weaknesses were sports and starships, so as Rey hooked in on his other side, the senator looked almost relieved to not have to talk economy or the political climate, and they had him cornered. Poe grabbed three drinks off a passing tray, and every time the man looked back and forth between them, they refilled his glass with their own.

"Do real people actually talk like that?" Finn asked in quiet disbelief, after listening to several minutes of this. He'd had it after about fifteen minutes and decided it was high time he did something useful with himself.

"Starting Phase Two before you two make me actually puke," he grumbled, and about thirty seconds later he got to act surprised as the alarms connected to their yacht started going off—Poe's and Rey's in Poe's pocket, and his from inside his uniform where it rested on a chain against his chest. He held his hand up to signal Poe that he would take care of it and ducked out of the room.

"Aww, mother of meteors," Poe swore with an awkward laugh. "We got one of those newer security systems. Got it on Coruscant—"

Out in the hall, Finn rolled his eyes and shut off the false alarm the same way he’d triggered it to turn on.

"There's your first mistake," Mald laughed.

"Ah, our man's taking care of it. What security do you use?" Poe asked, still comlinked in to Finn, so he could hear the conversation. "We have more false alarms than the Republic Navy," he chortled.

"Been there, mate," Mald said, and Poe handed him another drink. "We use CorSec, they're all right. Lowest rating on the physical locks, but who tries those anymore?"

"This isn't the Galactic Civil War," Rey put in.

"We have an impeccable firewall, though," Mald assured them. "You have to when you're a senator, you know."

"Oh we all do, don't we," Poe said, hitting his nose.

“Snoke is getting his money from the stupidest person in the Senate,” Finn said brightly.

...

Armed with the information from their very drunk, very ridiculous new friend, Finn popped open the lock on the Senator's yacht with a quick rap of his fist, and poked around for a computer terminal. He had already slipped out of his armor (better for sneaking) and pushed the sleeves on his shirt up so he wouldn't die of heat stroke. He poked around until he found a maintenance closet, which he raided for some tattered canvas pants to pull on over his skin-tight black ones before continuing on— and stopping, his mouth hanging open in complete disbelief. "You should see this thing, you guys. I just found—I think it’s a tiny starship? Guys, this yacht has a _tinier_ starship _inside it_. No _way_ he’s not in league with the Order," he yelped.

There were kids being stolen from their parents by the First Order, and this _asshole_ was taking money from them so he could have a tiny starship to put in his bigger starship.

Finn wanted to wreck both of them.

But this wasn’t about nesting starships. He took one last sneering look at the little luxury starship and made his way to the cockpit. There, he found exactly what he needed—a computer. He activated it and started entering access codes—ones he knew, or used to know, but mostly ones Timons had given them. Firewall or no, the computer started displaying file after file, until Finn had accessed every bit of information

Now he just had to search through it all and find what they were actually looking for..

"I'm in. Keep him distracted," he said into his comm, and then he sighed and got down to business.

...

"So I hear you collect model starships, Senator," Poe said, adding a bit of a bat to his eyelashes that made Mald actively turn from Rey on his other side. "Me, too! I have the whole Rebellion line.” This was true, actually, since a Poe was a massive nerd and couldn't keep a boyfriend or girlfriend through most of his teenage years and twenties, so what else did he have to spend his credits on?

Being ignored was fine by Rey, who feigned a headache and said she was going to wait in the ship, which meant she was going to meet Finn at Mald's yacht.

Which was where she wanted to be in the first place.

"Ugh, I couldn't wait to get out of that," Rey reported on the comlink. "Imagine your fiancée naked while you talk to Mald," she teased Poe, slipping out of her dress and into a black jumpsuit like Finn's.

That was the only thought that did help, as Mald got handsier the drunker he got, and "Your wife won't mind?" "No, yours?" "No, my wife loves threesomes!" was negotiated.

And Poe wasn't lying when he said, "Well so do I!"

"We can go back to my ship—"

"Don't you have a suite we can mess up here?" Poe asked instead, only a little worried about how fast this was going (was this guy _really_ that easy? Was Poe just _really_ good at this?).

"Don't make me have to kill a man..." Finn growled, allowing a little possessiveness to creep into his voice more because he knew it would drive Poe a little crazy and less because he thought he would actually have to do it.

"I'm not done here, so don't come back," he added.

"Find what you're looking for?" Rey asked as she slipped into the cockpit, so quiet and sneaky about it that Finn nearly jumped out of his skin when she spoke. Finn pursed his lips.

"There's just so much. I don't know where to start," he murmured as he rummaged through the Senator's files. He sighed sharply, getting nowhere fast.

"Well, take it all. I'm going to make sure he can't follow us," Rey said, opening up a maintenance hatch and crawling inside. They both wore leather gloves to prevent their fingerprints from getting anywhere, which made it harder to work, but Rey vastly preferred this challenge to trying to drink a handsy, ugly old man under the table.

Finn just shook his head fondly at Rey as she literally disappeared into the innards of the ship.

"Be careful in there, sweetheart," he told her, and received a very derisive snort in reply. He turned back to his console and started pulling information in earnest, copying as much information as he could over to the chip.

...

Poe, meanwhile, had been led up to the senator's suite, through mood-lit hallways with fewer and fewer people, and he wondered if he should just crack the guy on the head and run or keep pumping him for information.

(Ew.)

The problem was that Mald was letting his fascism show the more bold and drunk he got, and Poe was _sure_ this guy was going to prove to be their leak. So the more repulsed Poe was, the more he had to pretend to be interested.

He just needed to be _sure_.

"So...this Resistance, huh? Bunch of clowns, right?" Poe prompted, when they were in the elevator alone.

"Oh, terrorists," Mald agreed. "Not that I have an official comment on them, but between you and me, yeah, terrorists."

It was then that Mald tried to kiss him, and, well, Poe was onto something here, so he _had_ to kiss back, didn't he?

...

As Finn waited for the download to complete, he noticed there were some ominous thonks coming from whatever havoc Rey was busy wreaking on the engine—which, though worrying, was better than listening to the wet kissing sounds that were coming through on his comlink.

"Alright?" he called softly.

"I'm fine. You done yet?" Rey asked.

"Just about. How's it going, Poe?" Finn asked, but there was no immediate answer.

Actually, now there was no sound at all from Poe's side.

"Poe?" Rey asked, just as there was a shout from the yacht’s gangway.

"This is security! You are trespassing on a private vessel. Drop your weapons and walk toward me with your hands up," a voice said.

"Shit," said Finn, and "Kriff," said Rey, and there was another clonking sound as Finn set aside his weapon and went to deal with their company, walking with a pronounced limp and trying to appear small.

"Son of a kriffing bantha-shit nerf herder," Finn heard Rey said over the comm, and there were sounds of struggling. "Shit. I'm stuck. Help."

"I'm coming out, don't shoot, sir—look, I think there may be some confusion here. I was supposed to do some maintenance on the Senator's yacht? He said the computer system wasn't communicating properly with the engines. Uh, would you mind maybe not pointing that at me? I'm quite unarmed," he said, and took another limping shuffle step toward the guy, arms still raised and smiling his best disarming smile.

"Finn, stop making friends and get back here," Rey growled over the comlink.

...

Poe let himself be dragged down the hall and flattened against the wall by the kiss, startled by the hidden strength of this man. Ugh, he was the type, wasn't he? Still played boloball with his mates from his academy frat, took a ton of testosterone-enhancing supplements to keep his twenty-years-younger wife happy. Yeah, no wonder she liked threesomes.

"Now I heard you were _funding_ the Resistance..." Poe asked slyly.

"Ha! They think I am!" Mald replied, grabbing Poe's neck just the way he liked when Rey did it, and Poe let it help him pretend. "Giving them enough, you know. My real money's on—"

"Kal," said a stern voice, and Poe and the senator realized they were in his suite already, and his wife was there. She was a stern-looking woman, with her hair worn back tight, and she was in the process of removing a military coat.

Shit, that was a _First Order_ uniform!

Poe tried to cover up a squawk of alarm with a blush, praying to every god he knew of that a moustache and a bit of hair lightening would keep his identity a secret. "Sorry, ma'am, uh—your husband said..."

"My husband is drunk," she snapped, stalking over to him. "And you're with the Resistance."

Mald blinked, and Poe gaped, giving the senator’s wife a chance to reach up and grab a hold of Poe’s moustache to rip it off.

...

The security guard at least lowered his weapon and eyed Finn suspiciously. "What are you repairing?" he asked, and Finn died a little inside. How was he supposed to make this crap up?

"Well, see, we needed to clean the power couplings on the multi-spatial fusebox," he said, because that sounded impressive. He just hoped this guy was as well-versed in starships as he was.

"I don't—" the guard started, and then hardened again. “Look I’m gonna need to see some ident—”

But Finn was already close enough to hit the guy, so he dropped him.

"You could have left well-enough alone, but _no_ ," Finn grumbled, stashing him under the ramp and stomping back to the computer.

"Alright, Rey, talk to me," he said. Where was she even stuck? How had _Rey_ gotten stuck? In a _starship_? "Sweetheart? I'm here to rescue you?" he joked nervously, and turned his com down so he could better hear Rey. He followed her voice and found her—or, rather, he found her feet— stuck upside down, and he laughed as he pulled back the vent that was preventing her from escaping. "Did _you_ just get stuck in a starship?"

With the arm that wasn't holding the vent, he grabbed her ankles and pulled, and she wriggled backwards and found her footing. He held the vent until she was clear and then let it go to spring back into place. "How did you not know that was there?" he asked her.

"How many yachts do you think I ever crawled around inside of?" she asked him. "Don't you dare tell Poe. What's he doing, by the way?" she asked, and Finn sobered.

"I haven't been able to hear him. He's with the senator, but I didn't want to just leave you here," he said, and Rey nodded.

"Got what you needed?" she asked, and Finn held up the chip. "Okay. Boring party anyway. Let's go find Poe and get out of here."

...

“OW!”

Poe actually screamed, holding his face. “What are you doing to my face?!”

“That’s not a fake moustache?” the woman faltered.

“NO!”

“Honey,” Mald said. “Apologize to our guest.”

“I just thought—you _do_ look like Commander Poe Dameron.”

“Gosh, me?” Poe feigned surprise, helped along by a giddy terror. He batted his eyelashes at her. “I mean, you could call me ‘Resistance scum' in the heat of the moment, if you like?”

Poe laughed, trying not to sound nervous, because the last time a First Order officer had been frisking him this thoroughly, things hadn't ended well, and he hadn't been enjoying it then, and he certainly was not enjoying this now.

"You see, honey? He’s pretty _and_ he’s sassy," Mald chuckled, palming the front of Poe’s thin trousers.

The senator’s wife—a Lieutenant, if he was reading the rank bars on the uniform that now lay on the bed correctly—ran a hand through Poe’s hair, but luckily Poe had already ditched his ear comlink in the elevator. Poe tried to make his gasp sexy as she grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled him into a kiss, smearing dark lipstick across his face.

“Boy, you were not lying about the threesome thing,” Poe laughed. He could feel his heart sinking and his hackles rising.

“Honey, I think he’d be perfect to play Imperial Officer Interrogates Rebel Prisoner, don’t you?” Mald wondered, and Poe almost gagged. Fascists really did have all the weird kinks, didn’t they?

(Not that Poe wouldn’t have been all over this if it had been Finn and Rey, and there weren’t twelve levels of interrogation trauma they all dealt with.)

“Depends,” Poe hummed. “Where are you taking this...Rebel scum?”

(Why did he still have to sound so _flirty_? Why couldn’t he just stop running his mouth?)

The First Order officer laughed, a Dathomir witch’s cackle. “We have correction facilities on Dantooine now. Which position do you prefer, my boy?"

"Oh. We don’t need to rush? I'm big into foreplay," Poe tried.

"Ah, I like this one, darling," she purred.

 _Any time, Rey,_ Poe thought, like a prayer. _Or Finn, if you’re listening._

...

Finn and Rey made their way quickly back to their yacht on foot. They still hadn't managed to raise Poe, which called for immediate action, even if it blew their cover. They had what they needed anyway...

"He was with the senator when I left him. I think Mald has a suite here..."

"Got it, let's go. Remind me to thank BB-8 for their tracking chip..." Finn said, and the exact coordinates flashed across Rey's console.

She flew the yacht like she'd stolen it and slammed to a stop outside the balcony of a penthouse suite, nearly throwing Finn onto his face as he kicked off the bulky canvas pants. Rather than messing with the external comm system on the yacht, Rey revved the engine to let Poe know they were there.

"What—who—" Mald spluttered, and Poe used the opportunity to elbow the senator away from him and punch the officer in the face before fleeing outright—but not before he snatched the officer's jacket from the bed.

When he got to the window they all drew up short, as Finn had both guns trained on them.

Poe turned around. "Looks like that's my ride," he said, hopping to the window, shirt rakishly open, hair whipping in the wind. "I’m supposed to tell you Eight-Seven says hi," he added with a smirk and a salute as he flung himself backwards off the balcony.

It was an awesome exit, but of course he landed hard on his ass in the yacht.

" _Thank you_ ," he groaned, taking stock of himself and his clothes barely hanging onto him. "Ugh, oh my gods, that was way too close. I need to brush my teeth. And my entire body." He held up the jacket. "Please tell me this has ident or something you can recognize," he told Finn.

But Finn only hauled him to his feet as, "Buckle up somewhere," Rey told them from the cockpit.

Finn and Poe both lurched into seats as the engines roared and the yacht pulled away from the balcony. From their vantage point, they could just see Mald and his wife on their balcony, before they both started yelling into their wrist comms. Then the ramp closed, sealed, and Rey's voice crackled over the speakers. "Making the jump," she said, and there was a lurch and then the smooth travel of hyperspace.

Finn unbuckled again instantly, and Rey rushed back and met them, stomping over to Poe like she was about to yell at him. Instead, she threw her arms around his neck.

"Don't do that again. I was _worried_ ," she told him, voice muffled against his shoulder.

Poe flinched when Rey came at him, but when she only hugged him he clung to her. "Rey, _I_ was worried," he told her neck, trying to hide under her hair.

Finn picked up the jacket and started turning it over in his hands before he returned to Poe. "I don't recognize the name, but we have an ID number here. Time might know, or we can have the techs run it when we get back," he said.

"Euuhh, help," Poe said, suddenly recoiling. "I need to get—need to take a fresher."

He began attempting to tug off his clothes. "Kiss me, please. No. Not yet, I need to brush my teeth." He shuddered and drew back, blinking up at them, wild-eyed. "I—I _really_ didn't think things would go that far, I _swear_ , Rey, Finn, I'm so sorry..."

Rey frowned and reached for Poe, touching his wrist and then drawing him closer when he didn't shrink away again. "Calm down," she said, "It's not your fault! Did they hurt you?”

“No, no, I just—” Poe shuddered again. “I’m kind of disgusted with myself. You don’t blame me?”

“Why would we blame you?" Finn asked.

“Because I was one layer of clothes away from sleeping with the enemy? With someone who’s not either of you?” Poe blinked up at them, and then stood up. They were being entirely too calm about this. “I need to get in the fresher. I’m sorry. So sorry.”

Poe was visibly shaking, and his skin was a pale green, like he really was going to be sick.

"Can we go with you? To the refresher?" Finn asked, unsure—but doubting, because this was _Poe_ —if Poe really had been attempting to put space between them.

When Poe didn’t move away from them, he stepped closer and put a protective arm over his shoulders, because he seemed so shaken and he had just _apologized_ as if he thought he was to blame for the senator and the officer. "They won't be coming after us. Rey broke the Senator's ship," he assured Poe.

"Should've broken his face," Rey growled.

Poe sagged against them, taking a trembling breath and letting it out in a huff. "Heh. I would have liked to see that. Her face, too. That’s her jacket. Ugh." He shuddered again, as the reality that a First Order officer had her hands on him—and he had been about to let her—sunk in.

“They wanted to—no, never mind.” He grasped at Finn. "Please join me in the fresher. _Please_. Ugh, I want to forget them. I thought I was cool with this and, boy, was I wrong!” He laughed a little manically.

“I love you guys I am _so_ sorry," he finished.

"Poe, it’s okay," Rey said, petting his hair soothingly. "Let's get you out of this, brush your teeth, and get you cleaned up. Okay? It's all behind us. And we got some very useful information and someday I'll gut the both of them like fish and this will all be fine."

Poe sniffed. "You know it does help hearing you get jealous," he said with a wet chuckle.

“Who said I wanted to gut them just because they’re gross fascists? You're my fiancé. No one but me or Finn gets to touch you like that," Rey told Poe as she helped Finn get his clothes off.

Rather than adding anything to that, Finn combed his fingers through Poe's hair and then kissed him, taking his time before he pulled back and grinned.

"And they couldn't possibly have been _that_ good at kissing you. Perhaps we should take turns kissing you and help you forget them," he offered.

Poe smiled. "Yes, please," he whispered, and then blinked and stepped back to see them in their beautiful black slinky—

" _Whoa_ ," he gasped, holding them each out at arm's length. "What are you _wearing_ , holy nerfs that is a good look on you, my honeys."

He had thought the formalwear and armor had been good, but now Rey and Finn were in matching black leotards that were so tight they left nothing to the imagination. "I thought we were saving sexy lingerie for the wedding night?"

Rey exchanged a smile with Finn: some of Poe's spark was back, and that was good.

"He's doing a lot of talking for someone who's supposed to be being kissed," she said, threading her fingers through his hair and loosening his trousers before helping him step out of them.

"Hmmmm, you're right, he is," Finn said, and kissed Poe while Rey got the fancy refresher turned on and warm. Then they traded, and Rey hugged Poe close and kissed him gently while Finn got undressed.

"These are our sneaking clothes," Rey told Poe between kisses.

Finn stepped behind him and brushed a hand against Poe's hip before pressing close so he could wrap his arms around both of his loves.

"They make her so sneaky she gets stuck in engines," he whispered in Poe's ear, plenty loud enough for Rey to hear.

A surprised laugh bubbled out of Poe at that—and at Rey’s reaction.

"You got stuck _where_?" he spluttered, while Rey glared.

"Poe, since I'm no longer speaking to Finn, will you inform him that unless he wants to sleep on the couch all night he won't say another word about that?" Rey told him matter of factly.

"So, buddy..." Poe said, because she looked serious. "Why don't I forget everything I just heard and go brush my teeth, huh?"

Finn laughed, but he was also a little worried Rey might actually make him sleep on the couch, so he held both hands up placatingly and stepped back so Poe could go brush his teeth.

"What were we talking about again? How about...um...this refresher? It's very nice! Look, there are multiple sprayers!" he said brightly, and then he proceeded to turn all of them on, eliciting a squeal from Rey when it got her hair wet. She retaliated by elbowing him over so another stream sprayed him in the face.

Poe spat out the toothpaste and the taste of First Order and returned to the arms of his beloveds, who had sorted out the sprayer situation, luckily without half-flooding the floor.

"Hey, this _is_ a nice fresher. Nice people in it," Poe said, and kissed them both, and wrapped his arms around them, and leaned on them.

"You got the files?" he asked.

Finn nodded, and Poe relaxed further. "Okay. Good. And we're going home, and we can sleep for a week, right?"

"If by 'sleep for a week' you mean 'lead another raid in three days'," Rey said gently, rubbing the back of his neck.

"As long as I don't have to end up in bed with anyone from the First Order. Ever. Again." Poe shuddered, trying to make himself small in their arms.

Finn coughed.

"Present company excluded," Poe now chuckled, resting his face against Finn's shoulder.

Finn brought a hand up and buried his fingers in Poe's hair, scratching gently at his scalp. "I like the sound of that," Finn said, "You ending up in bed with us, I mean." Since they would be home for only three short days before the next raid, they might as well take advantage of the short trip back to base—even if they all ended up falling asleep as soon as the adrenaline wore off.

"Gonna remind me who I belong to?" Poe laughed, easing into them and realizing how much he needed this. Rey purred, delighted:

"You know, you were almost too good at that flirting and schmoozing," she said, pushing him against the wall of the fresher with her hand on his neck. "Like we might need to keep a better eye on you."

"I am a perfect angel," Poe insisted with a dramatic gasp.

"Oh, see there we know he's lying," Rey teased.

Finn, too, laughed at this and brushed his knuckles down Rey's cheek. "Hey, now, be nice. Poe would _never_ stretch the truth," he said. “He only breaks it. Completely.”

He nuzzled Poe’s cheek so he’d know he was only teasing, then added, "By the way, does anyone actually talk that way outside of stupid parties? Because it sounded ridiculous."

He stroked Poe's hair and nipped softly at his ear. "Not that you did a bad job. But I like you better as a pilot than a rich playboy," he hummed softly.

Poe relaxed further, letting Finn and Rey touch him and handle washing him, since he didn't have the use of his hands.

"I think only super-rich people do," he said. "The ones that have enough to fund senate seats _and_ the First Order—" his fists clenched briefly, but of course there was nothing to be done about the rest of the patrons donating to Mald's evil campaign when they were halfway across the galaxy by now.

"Never mind," he said, pushing away the helpless-anger and almost-terror of it all. He melted into Finn's touches.

Finn held Poe’s face in his hands. “Poe, are you okay?”

Poe met his eyes squarely. “I’m trying to be.”

Rey turned his chin and kissed him gently. “You’re going to be.”

“I know.”

“Let us in?”

“Of course.”

The press of Rey’s mind into his made Poe shiver, but she was gentle and he wasn’t afraid, and she was strong and Finn, who he felt more distantly, was warm. They didn’t blame him, and that made Poe realize how foolish his own guilt was. They were protecting him, too, which made his fear seem foolish as well.

Then Rey began washing his hair and then it was all over: he could almost forget the touch of the senator and the officer. He still felt mostly disgusted with himself, but Finn and Rey were gentle and their hold was safe, and Poe could relax.

Finn shifted them so he could pull Poe close and let him lean against him. He sighed, happy with the situation, and relaxed because he had Poe in his arms and Rey was smiling at them both.

"Hmmmm, my two boys. Mine, mine, mine," Rey said. She tipped Poe's head back to rinse his hair and kissed his temple. Finn reached up and took Rey's other hand, lacing their fingers together and kissing her knuckles— rough and worn and perfect.

Closing her eyes, Rey let herself get lost in the moment, in the closeness of this, the gentleness of their connection. She was in control of herself and also part of something bigger than her. She had a family who would never leave her, and nothing felt better than that.

Poe was nearly asleep by the time they finished washing off and turned off the refresher. The bed was just a bunk, not much greater than theirs on base, but it felt heavenly now because Finn and Rey were in it, and they dried off and tumbled into it. Poe knew he was loved and forgiven because he could feel it, and it felt good, almost as good as their naked bodies surrounding him.

"Love you. Thanks for making the mission a success and making sure nobody got killed," he murmured with a smile.

Finn squirmed around until he was comfortable (and until Rey whacked him in the shoulder for squirming just to get attention) and then sighed happily. Rey was curled against his side as close as humanly possible, and she kissed him before reaching over him to take Poe's hand.

"Hey—remember we have to do something for the General's birthday. Kes said Luke's is the 25th? Taungsday?" she whispered sleepily. Finn, who had only been paying a little bit of attention, opened his eyes.

"What's Luke's birthday gotta do with the General’s?" he mumbled, and when Rey looked at him and gave him one long blink, he laughed. "... _Oh_. Twins. Yes. Good."

Rey put her head back down, having not said anything, and nuzzled his arm. "Yeah. So anyway, clearly something must be done," she said.

"Oh my gods! It _is_ almost her birthday!" Poe, who was half asleep a second ago, shot upright. "I can't believe I forgot! Okay, we have to—make a detour."

Poe was out of bed and running, naked, to the cockpit, to reprogram the nav computer. "I already planned what we could get her. It's a nice hairpiece done by one of the last Alderaanian craftswomen still alive. It's mostly on the way, I'm so glad you guys reminded me. Things have just been moving so fast—"

"Poe!" Rey laughed, having followed him to slip a robe around his shoulders while he reprogrammed. "It's all right. Take a breath. We'll get her something."

"No, no, I gotta get her _this_."

Finn smiled fondly at Poe and squeezed his shoulders. "Okay—so where are we going? Are they likely to have heard anything about our adventure with the senator?" he asked. "Also, can we go back to bed? I'm tired."

Poe spun around in the chair. "She's on Naboo. A beautiful place—if we had time, we could look at honeymoon destinations," he said with a smile, and glanced lazily at the console. "We got a nice ten hours before we arrive," and now Poe was bright-eyed and alert.

"So. What will we do to pass the time?" he wondered playfully, refusing to hear Finn's claim that he was tired.

Finn yawned again, pointedly, but Poe and Rey were both smirking at him. He rolled his eyes fondly and kissed Rey's nose, eliciting a giggle, and nuzzled Poe's cheek. "Well, we _could_ sleep, but neither of you look tired—which, by the way, _how_?—so I guess we better find something better to do than sleep.”

"Well, all we had to do was stand around and talk and drink, while you were sneaking and beating up guards and things. And since Rey definitely didn't get trapped in any starship engines, she must not have done anything strenuous."

Rey stuck her tongue out at Poe.

"I mean, Finn wouldn't even have to do anything, right?" Poe said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. "Just lie back and let us take care of you."

"Oh, well, in _that_ case," Finn replied, drawing Poe out of the pilot's chair and taking Rey's hand. He stepped back toward the tiny bedroom, "I _guess_ I could live with this arrangement."

Rey snorted and shook her head at him, and he could practically read on her face what she was thinking—you're ridiculous, and I love you—and he grinned at both her and Poe.

Poe was only too glad to push Finn back to the bed and kiss him hard, and Rey had Poe and Finn stripped of robe and sleeping clothes, respectively, in seconds.

"I'm just gonna suck your cock so we both sleep better," Poe hummed, kissing down Finn's body, while Rey tucked herself around Finn so she could scratch his arms.

Finn gasped and nodded. "Yeah. That sounds...yeah."

Poe didn't tease, but it only took a few minutes of listening to wet sounds of pleasure and watching Finn gasp and sigh before Rey got up the courage to ask:

"You think you could do that to me next?"

Poe's head shot up, mouth still slack.

“Do this?” Poe knew what he thought she meant, but he needed to be sure.

“To me. With your mouth? Only if you want.”

"Absolutely!" Poe panted. "Only if you—are you sure? This is something you want?"

“Now?” Finn asked, sounding almost as excited as Poe.

"Yeah? Right now?" Rey scrunched up her nose, but in thought rather than in distaste.

She had been thinking about it for some time, wondering what it would feel like to combine that physical pleasure with that shared Force-bond pleasure, and to let Poe or Finn help instead of the vibrator. She wasn’t necessarily any more interested in sex now than she ever was, but she couldn’t help thinking she was missing something, and, well, she wanted to try.

Poe looked up at Finn.

"Buddy, I'm sorry. I’m leaving you," he said, absolutely seriously, which made Finn laugh.

"Fine, that's fine. I want to—watch this," Finn said, sliding back to lean against the headboard and stroking himself lazily. He didn't seem tired anymore.

Poe locked eyes with Rey, nervous, like he could screw this up. "We can stop at any point. I'm gonna go slow, love. Mouth and fingers okay?"

Rey laughed, surprised to see some of her own uncertainty mirrored in Poe's gaze—and while still uncertain, she did relax somewhat.

"Yes, that's fine," she said, and gave him an encouraging smile. "I promise I'll tell you if I don't like it," she added.

Poe smiled, easing her legs apart and resting on his elbows between them. "You know, I tasted a lot of delicious things tonight, and I think this is going to put them all to shame."

Rey rolled her eyes. "Poe, don't give me those lines. I know you're lying."

Poe looked offended. "I'm _not_!"

"He's not," Finn said, shaking his head slyly. "He's weird, but he likes it."

"Gross."

"Don't think about it. It helps."

"You two are the least romantic people I have the misfortune of being madly in love with if you think this is all about _taste_ ," Poe hummed, kissing Rey just above the tuft of hair between her legs, and then softly on the inside of each thigh.

"I swear I can almost _taste_ when I make you feel good. I know it doesn't make sense, but I don't ask you to explain the Force, do I?" he grinned, sliding his hands under her thighs to direct her into his mouth a little better, and stuck to kissing the insides of her thighs until she had relaxed totally.

Rey sighed, and Finn began to kiss her. Poe _did_ go slowly, giving Rey the chance to get used to his gentle touches and soft, sweet kisses. He was being so _cautious_ and _careful_ and Rey just loved him _so much_. These new sensations were secondary—even if they were nice.

"Beautiful," Poe hummed. "We doing okay still?"

"Yeah. Maybe a little better than okay," Rey answered, and Finn chuckled softly at the rough tone of her voice.

"You two go ahead," Poe grinned.

Rey reached a hand toward Finn.

"Hi, Sunshine," he said to her as he reached to lace their fingers together.

She tipped her head back and smiled brightly at Finn, and pulled him into a searing kiss, and that was when Poe went for it, licking from the inside of her thighs to their center, teasing, small swipes with his tongue before drawing back. He took this slow, making sure she could stop him at any point, but he was beginning to feel her in the Force, the way she usually opened up when they were in the middle of sex, just _happy_ , and he couldn't tell whether he was actually making her feel good or if she was just enjoying how happy this was making him. He flicked his tongue deeper inside her, spreading her lips and working over the sensitive nub.

Rey's breath hitched and her hips jerked. "Oh— _oh_! D-do that again? Maybe with—"

"Fingers, yeah," Poe said, remembering her appreciation for the vibrator, for pressure inside her more than his tongue could manage.

"Ohh, Poe," she sighed. "Keep going. Finn, kiss me," she ordered.

"So bossy," Finn hummed, teasing, but he did as he was told and shifted so he could bend down and kiss Rey, shivering when she moaned softly at what Poe was doing. When he pulled back, he was panting, and he was still uncomfortably hard—but he'd worry about it later. Right now, Rey was gasping softly and squirming and trying to be still, all at once.

"You're beautiful, Rey. Relax, sunshine," Finn soothed, because she was tensing like she was either trying to speed things up or slow them down, because of course she was, because again: control freak.

But she smiled and reached for him across their bond, and he let her draw him closer until he could feel both her and Poe as a sort of bright, swirling happiness.

"Don't call her bossy just because she knows what she wants," Poe said, by which he meant he would be crushed if she ever stopped being bossy. But then Rey grabbed his hair and shoved his head harder against her, and he had three fingers inside her and his lips sealed around her clit, and when she came she surprised everyone by actually screeching and _squirting_ and _wow_ Poe was about to say, a stupid grin on his face, but she yelped and scrambled back, still panting breathlessly.

"Oh my gods did I just—?"

"No, no, calm down, that was good, Rey, that was great!" He'd never been with a girl who did that, stars, and he kind of never wanted to wash his face ever again now, and he couldn't help feeling a little smug. "Are you okay? How was that?"

Rey blinked and gave Poe a half-smile. "Yeah, I'm good. That was...it felt…sorry I freaked out. It was nice," she said, once she caught her breath, but there was a hint of a question in her voice.  “It felt good. I promise!” she reassured both of them.

Then she really looked at Poe and laughed.

“Gods, you really got him,” Finn said, giggling, too, and soon they were all laughing as is Poe wiped his drenched face off on his shoulder.

“Worth it,” Poe grinned, and sighed. “So. All right?”

Rey’s smile faltered. Yes, of course. That felt wonderful.

But.

How did she tell Poe that while it had certainly been enjoyable, she was still pretty sure it was never something she would _need_ , not like she needed flying or her lightsaber or those times when she thought she might drown in how much they all _loved_ each other? He might take it as a failing on his own part.

Both Finn and Poe were looking at her with some concern, and she realized they were both waiting because she'd sounded uncertain and they were concerned that something was wrong. And she just wanted to hug them and never let go, because of course they were concerned at her response (or lack thereof).

"It's just... Oh, it's complicated. It's not that I didn't enjoy it," she said, and she grinned at Poe, "and you _do_ have a very wicked mouth."

She glanced between both Poe and Finn and then at the ceiling. "That was nice. I’m still tingling. I just don't know if I'll ever _need_ it. Not like you two. But I still need you! Just not...like that."

Poe heaved a dramatic sigh, but he had learned long ago that you couldn't change anyone's sexuality by being good in bed, and she was far too kind to his fragile ego as it was, so he couldn't exactly be disappointed.

Finn coughed, breaking any potential awkward silence. "Well, uh, I can tell you _I_ need you like that. You know, whenever you're free to finish what you started."

Poe laughed, burying his face against Rey's belly as he sighed. "Okay, okay," he said, petting Rey's thighs before getting up and crawling back into Finn's lap.

"That's it, aww," Rey hummed, grinning, rubbing his back and hair before turning to kiss Finn as Poe swallowed him to the root on the first go. "He's so good, isn't he? So good to us."

"Mmmm, yeah. So good," Finn meant to say, but it came out as more of a strangled moan, and Rey hummed as she kissed him again and his eyes drifted shut.

"You, too—so patient, right?" she asked, and he moaned helplessly, trying to shift his hips.

But Rey dropped her hand to his waist and pressed with her fingers, holding him still. "Shhh," she whispered into his ear, and he growled at her.

" _Not_ patient," he told her, and she laughed.

"You like it when we draw it out," Rey purred, and Poe hummed, giving Finn exactly what he wanted.

Poe couldn't think of a better way to erase the awful first half of his evening, and how it had almost ended, than by serving his beloveds just like this. It was automatic and delicious, and Rey had connected them all through the Force so he felt like he was almost tasting their _brightness_ in the Force, and when he helped Finn to completion, he wanted to fall asleep right here, draped over both their legs, warm and loved. His exhaustion from before was catching up to him.

Finn sighed happily as Poe settled over his legs and Rey snuggled up next to his side, pulling his arm over her shoulders so she could use his chest as a pillow.

"Hey, Poe, come up here," Finn said, and pulled at Poe's arm until he was draped over his chest instead of his legs.

And now everything was perfect, and he could scratch Rey's lower back under his hand and run his fingers through Poe's hair until their breaths evened out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay, dear readers! This chapter needed some work, and couldn't have come to you without the help of [conn8d](http://archiveofourown.org/users/conn8d/pseuds/conn8d), [beautifullights](http://archiveofourown.org/users/beautifullights/pseuds/beautifullights), and although he may not know it, [cognomen](http://archiveofourown.org/users/cognomen/pseuds/cognomen). Go love them and read their great fic! 
> 
> Also, HOW ABOUT THAT TRAILER??


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Twenty-eight days before the wedding.

When Rey, Finn, and Poe arrived back on Nkllon, it was with a gift for the General (and one for Master Luke, too), and with better intel than they could have hoped for.

"Forget who’s funding him. _We know where the Supreme Leader is_."

The General was the first to say it, and the briefing room went quiet. She nodded at Brance, who continued the briefing:

"The data gathered by our operatives, most recently by Major Finn, has revealed a cash flow heading to Dantooine. We suspect that even if the Supreme Leader himself is not there, then they might be turning it into another Starkiller—"

"Because they always have to try these things in twos," Poe muttered, getting a smile out of Snap.

"—and either way it is worth a full assault. Dantooine is a harsh planet, with very little wildlife and almost no  settlement, so we won't have to worry about civilians. We are planning a full-scale attack. Commander Dameron will lead with Starfighters, engaging any naval support the base has—according to our reports, we guess they may have two, perhaps three, star destroyers that can get there in time, and plenty of TIE support."

"We're prepared to take all squadrons out," Poe said. "Forty fighters strong." It was a good number—limited more by the number of working starfighters they had rather than pilots.

"Admiral Statura will be commanding the _Vapor_ , equipped with its full weaponry complement," Brance went on. "And Major Ematt will be aboard, coordinating the ground assault. Major Finn will be leading on the planet, joined by General Skywalker and Padawan Rey. The Major has expressed confidence that stormtrooper defection rates may be high as a result of his recent, er, campaign."

Rey smiled at Finn and took his hand. He had taken to leaving something of a calling card after raids and attacks—his old "name," as much as he ever had of a name, "Eight-Seven"—and now when used before an engagement, as a warning, a higher percentage of stormtroopers would stand down and surrender. The Stormtrooper Recovery Task Force was becoming a huge machine, with almost a fifth of the Resistance already assigned a "buddy."

They wouldn't have enough space for them all if this was a successful battle, but that was kind of a preferable problem to have, in Leia's opinion.

"I'm confident we'll have a lot of surrenders, at least, Major," Finn said with a nod, and Rey squeezed his hand. "Troopers that won't want to fight, even if they don't want to join us."

"If luck is on our side, we won't need them to fight for us after this," Ematt commented.

"We won't need luck," the General said, her voice rising above everyone else's. The end of this conflict was so close she could almost taste it. "We have the Force. We move out in twenty-four hours, people. Dismissed."

...

Poe was hanging up the last of the streamers when Snap, cool as a cucumber, guided Leia into the hanger under the pretense of paperwork or inspections or something.

"SURPRISE!" they all shouted, and, "Happy birthday!"

The pilots were holding a sign that distinctly read "Happy birthday, General," only it had an "s" added to the end, hastily, in a different color of paint.

"Crap, where's Luke?" Poe complained, discovering he wasn’t with Snap and Leia. He was going to ruin the party.

"I've been asking _that_ for ten years," Leia commented, having been handed a margarita and dressed in a tiara already.

Finn looked over at Leia and couldn't help grinning. She raised her eyebrows at him and he stopped, not sure if he was in trouble—but then she smiled.

"My brother can be...obtuse," she said and took a sip of her margarita.

Finn was trying to come up with a response when Rey and Luke finally arrived, and a smattering of people cheered and shouted a second "Surprise!"

Luke laughed, touched, and when he and Rey joined them, Leia set a tiara on Luke's head, then laughed while her brother gave her a long-suffering but slightly amused look.

"Come on, Arana is making margaritas," she told him, "Chewie told someone that we both like them."

She looked at Poe and winked before leading her brother away toward the "bar." Rey watched them go and then pulled Poe and Finn into a hug.

Poe was beaming, and fell against Rey and kissed her cheek, pulling Finn closer with Rey between them. "They're too cute. I'm sorry, loves, I'm leaving you to marry my childhood hero and her brother."

Rey wrinkled her nose. "That's incest."

"Ah, good point. Guess you're stuck with me, then," he said.

"They missed each other, that ten years," Rey said. "She acts tough, and so does he, but..."

Finn and Poe couldn't help but think that Rey knew all about missing people, and they hugged her tighter. They watched as Leia turned and said something to Luke that made him smile. He put his arm over his twin's shoulder and pulled her to his side in a hug.  

"Can I get you a margarita? Who wants to do shots?" Poe offered.

"I could do anything—but maybe after we've given them their gifts?" Finn was very excited for one of Leia's gifts, and didn't want to be too drunk to remember it.

And none of them needed to be hungover tomorrow, for the big battle. But he wasn’t going to be a buzzkill, either. He knew that when some of them didn't return tomorrow, he would be grateful for tonight.

"I want some of that chocolate Jess brought. I want some of _everything_ everyone brought, really," Rey said brightly.

Poe laughed. "Okay, okay. Yeah let's go get some chow before it runs out."

He led them through the crowd, at one point palming a datastick to Snap ("Ready for tonight?" Poe asked, to which Snap replied, "Does Darth Vader have a cape?" and they punctuated their conversation with the X-wing salute).

Deeks was serving the food, and he beamed at them.

"Major Finn! Commander! Rey! Have any of you seen, uh, Lieutenant Connix?"

Poe blinked. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing. I just, uh, she dropped a sheet of flimsi and—” Deeks blushed. “Look, forget I said anything..."

Poe grinned, looking at Finn and Rey. "Deeks, buddy, you looking to ask her to dance tonight?"

"No!" Deeks yelped, but he was about as good at lying as Finn, which was not at all.

"You can't tell her," Deeks grumbled when he knew he was caught, and he shifted from foot to foot.

Finn looked over at Poe helplessly—he certainly had no idea what to say to the kid about talking to women.

"Well, because you should ask her to dance," Poe said, "You'll have your chance tonight, buddy."

"Just tell her something nice about her," Rey suggested. She looked at Finn slyly. "You know she likes organization, too..."

"That's stereotyping," Poe pointed out. "Not _all_ ex-stormtroopers like organization. Deeks is a slob.”

Finn rolled his eyes at both of his betrotheds. "You won't know unless you try, is what I _think_ they're saying." He gave Deeks a smile. "It's just a dance, Deeks. You've done far scarier things."

"I dunno, asking Kaydel Ko Connix to dance is pretty brave. I feel like she'd scold me about time sheets or fuel consumption the whole time," Poe muttered.

Deeks got a dreamy look in his eyes. "Yeah, she's so tough and precise, and smarter than I'll ever be," he said.

Poe chuckled. "You know, I never thought I'd say this, but I think you and I have something in common.”

"Good taste in scary women?" Rey supplied with a laugh. She liked Kaydel, and thought she would be good for Deeks.

"Oh," she added, seeing Connix approach. "Don't look now, but she cleans up good."

All Kaydel had done was change into a short dress and put on lipstick, but the transformation was remarkable. It was kind of amazing how good everyone looked when _not_ dressed in their puke-green uniforms.

Finn was watching Deeks, and he could tell the exact moment Deeks saw Connix because his eyes went wide and he froze. The kid was smitten, and Finn shook his head fondly, thanking the gods for the millionth time that it had been Deeks in that AT-AA. The First Order would have eaten the kid alive, eventually—or broken him, and either thought made Finn inexpressibly sad.

"She's beautiful," Deeks whispered reverently. Finn reached across the table and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Deeks, this is very important," he said.

Deeks regarded him steadily.

"Never be anything other than who you are," he told him, and then grinned. "Even if who you are is kind of a weird kid."

Deeks frowned at him as Rey and Poe laughed.

"I'm not a kid!" Deeks practically wailed.

...

Poe, Finn, and Rey commandeered spots by their Generals for the present opening, Rey as Skywalker's pupil, Poe as Commander, and Finn as Leia's favorite.

"He's been bringing me drinks all night, of course he’s my favorite," she told Poe's devastated look. "What have you done for me lately?"

Poe spluttered, but this time Finn brought him a margarita, too, so he shut up until _Luke_ got in on it.

"You haven't had a young man this attractive bring you a margarita since Han was young," he commented.

Finn winked, but: 

"Okay, Generals, I really must protest the objectification of my fiancé!" Poe cried, pretending to be scandalized.

"Oh we'd let you watch," Leia pointed out, and then turned red. "Oookay, and we're forgetting I ever said that," she said, putting her head in her hands. "Because if I did, that would be illegal."

Finn was laughing, but Poe attempted a distraction:

"Here, look, you got a nice card from all the pilots," he said, laughing at the 'Happy Birthday, General' (which, like the banner, had a hasty 's' appended to it, so that it could be for Luke, too).

(They had different last names and couldn't be more different, so it was hard to remember that they were related.)

Finn, from his seat next to the General, leaned over to see the card and smiled. All the pilots had written in it, and some of the messages were even legible. There were notes from some of them to Luke as well, if they knew him. He didn't read any of the messages—they were for Luke and Leia, after all, and not him.

"We have one for you, too," Finn said, and handed over a card from the soldiers.

This card was much better put together, and Poe would have to scold his pilots later for embarrassing him. He was a bit surprised the pathfinders and infantry could string enough Aurebesh together to spell their own names, frankly, but he was wrong.

They let Leia and Luke work through piles of gifts: mainly these were large, expensive, or important things that groups went in on and worked together to get, like Rey, Finn and Poe's hair comb, which made tears come to her eyes, but probably only because she was a little bit tipsy.

After all the presents were opened and exclaimed over and most of the crowd had wandered off, Finn went and brought them some more food and margaritas—and water. When he sat back down, he nudged Poe's knee and then cleared his throat.

"General, we have one more present for you, but it's not wrapped." He watched Poe dig in his pocket for a moment and continued. "We wanted to get you something other than just the hair comb, for um...everything, basically. Not—the fighting stuff and being our fearless leader—"

"Not _just_ for that, anyway," Rey broke in, and Finn nodded.

"For giving us a home and for _caring_ , and for being kind—unless we need to be reprimanded."

"Thanks for helping teach Finn and me how to be human, and for not giving up when we made it difficult," Rey added, including Luke in this, and he smiled gently at his Padawan.

Finn continued: "And for not kicking me out when I had night terrors and forgot I wasn't in the First Order anymore."

Leia smiled sadly at him.

"You're not the first soldier to have suffered that ailment, Finn," she said.

Her voice held a sadness that spoke of personal experience. He smiled softly in acknowledgment—sympathy, he thought, would not have been appreciated.

"Without you, we wouldn't have each other. And we wouldn't have Sam." Finn nodded to Poe, who was holding a holoprojector. "So we had an idea."

"Really, it's a gift from Dr. Kalonia, who is stuck doing all the paperwork," Poe said, as she activated the holochip.

"Oh, you three," she said, actually crying this time.

"If it's allowed, of course," Poe said. "Taking the royal name. We just wanted to—"

"It's allowed," she said, her voice thick. It was Sam's birth certificate, and it now read Sam Organa Dameron. "The royal name should live on."

Especially since her actual son wasn't using it.

Rey knelt in front of her and took her hand. "Finn and I don't remember our mothers, and—ever since Poe lost his mother, you've been—well. It's only _fair_ that our family should carry on your name. Thank you."

"Rey," Leia said, and touched her hair.

"Finn," she said, the same way she'd said Rey's name, and touched his arm. He shifted to sit next to Rey, and Leia turned to Poe.

"Poe Dameron," she said to him, and her voice sounded a little dryer and a little more amused, but no less fond.

Leia looked at all three of them and smiled. "Thank _you_ ," she said roughly, and she pulled the three of them into a hug. 

Then she sat back and laughed. "Look at all of us!" she said, because all of them, including Luke, were wiping away tears even as they laughed. "Alright, enough of that, now, we have a war to win before I grow old."

She held up her glass to the other four. "Raise a glass—to...family by choice," she said.

"To coming home safe," Finn added.

"To fast starships and strong shields," from Rey.

They touched their glasses together to make a bright chiming sound. This, of course, got the attention of everyone who had stayed nearby to talk, or eat, or drink, and soon _everyone_ was demanding a toast and a speech from their General.

They managed to stay on the floor at Luke and Leia's feet, because the twins were at old-person-drunk point where they wanted to tell stories, and Poe, history nerd that he was, kept asking questions, and Rey and Finn, who didn't know most of this history in the first place, couldn't ask them to shut up. Also, Finn mixed a strong margarita and Poe hadn't eaten anything, so he and Rey were partially a captive audience, unable to get up without falling over.

"...And that was when she _kissed_ me! In hindsight it's even more horrible because it was such a great kiss!" Luke laughed.

"Ugh! Gross! Gross!" Poe cried, writhing on the ground, wallowing in his drunkenness. "Mutant babies! You almost had a mutant baby!"

"I'm still not positive I didn't," Leia muttered, chuckling weakly.

"He doesn't look anything like you," Rey commented. "Maybe he was switched at birth," and Leia kept laughing.

"'Fraid not," Leia said.

Luke was laughing, too. "No idea where he got the height and the nose from. Maybe Han's parents. I guess Anakin was tall…”

He considered this for a moment and then shrugged. They were all still laughing, for no apparent reason other than life was sad and they were drunk, which made no sense to Finn even if it felt kind of nice to laugh rather than mope about it.

"'S ok, we'll be your adopted kids," Finn said, and then realized he'd said it out loud and blushed. "Uhhhhh," he added, but Leia laughed again.

"I think that already happened when you gave Sam my name," she said.

"You might have to fight Kes over them," Luke said, and Leia waved it off.

"I've known Kes Dameron for a long time. We can share," she stated, and Finn smiled.

"You know, your dad did say something along the lines of now that he and the General are both single..." Rey said with a sly grin.

Poe's eyes bugged out. "What? No! I mean, what? My dad and General _Organa_?" He asked, voice cracking. "No, no, he didn’t say that! That's—that'd be—I can't think about my dad and my childhood hero having sex! That's disgusting!"

Poe was holding his head in his hands when Luke added, "Well I hate to be the one to break this to you, kid..."

"Wait. _What_." Rey said, while Poe melted down next to them and Luke and Leia laughed so hard that had to lean on each other.

" _You_ and Kes?" Finn yelped, staring at Luke. The margarita was making him slow.

Leia cackled, and Finn had never heard Luke laugh so hard, tears streaming down his cheeks. It was an infectious laugh, and before they knew it, all of them were laughing so hard they were crying, and Finn realized he was _actually_ crying, for no reason he could identify. Maybe it was happiness at being here, with these people, right now, or maybe it was the pressure of what they would all go to do tomorrow. He wasn't sure, but he leaned over on Poe until he could breathe again.

"Aww, buddy," Poe cooed, pulling Finn into a hug and rubbing his back. "Buddy, you're okay. I promise none of my childhood heroes ever had sex with my dad, ever. Nor are ever going to," he added with a glare, and Finn gave him a wet laugh.

"All right, if you won’t believe me,” Luke said, lurching to his feet, and laughed when Poe squawked again indignantly, “I'm taking my drunk little sister to bed.”

"Ten minutes, Obi-Wan said. I'm just ten minutes younger." Leia was something of a belligerent drunk, and poked her brother in the chest roughly. "In fact, it's Obi-Wan's word through you, so you could be lying! I could be older!"

"Guess you'll never know," Luke said smugly, and Leia's glare would have been a lot more threatening if she wasn't leaning heavily on Luke's arm.

"I could ask him next time he shows up," Rey volunteered, and both siblings spluttered. She grinned brightly. "It's gotta be soon...I don't know how he hasn't shared his opinion recently."

This was true—Obi-Wan’s Force ghost hadn't shown up recently to tell her she was breaking every Jedi rule like it was a life goal, which made Rey feel like she was slightly off her game.

"Ha! Point to me. I win," Leia said as Luke led her away.

"You're still younger, so what're you winning here?" Luke asked her, but Leia's muttered reply was unclear, and then they were gone.

Finn shook his head fondly and smiled.

"That was..." Finn started, but trailed off.

"Hilarious? Wonderful?" Rey suggested.

"I was going to say educational," Finn answered dryly. "But yes, all of those things too. Hey Poe, have you fully recovered?" he teased gently.

"I'm never recovering," Poe whimpered, covering his face and laughing. "They just said that to tease me. My dad never...no, no. Not thinking about this.”

Poe shuddered.

"I hear music," Rey said, cocking her head.

“What?” Finn asked.

"Oops, I forgot! I have to—I'll be right back!" she cried suddenly, and fled.

Poe and Finn stared after her.

"Well, okay," Poe said. "In _that_ case, Finn, may I have your first dance?"

"Our fiancée is really weird," Finn said, and then turned to Poe. "There’s a dance? I mean, of course you may—but I'm not entirely sure about my balance right now!"

"She's weird, but beautiful, and we're the luckiest men on earth," Poe said.

Finn nodded and took Poe's hand. "I love you," he told him, which was probably an alcohol-induced non-sequitur, but it was true, so he didn't care. “Gonna tell Rey when she gets back, too.”

Poe laughed, drawing Finn over to the cleared out part of the hangar where people were already dancing, arms going around Finn as he kissed him and spun them. "I love you, too, handsome. You remember the steps I showed you, right?"

Finn nodded as they joined the dancers and leaned forward to give Poe a kiss. Someone had a light machine that made the air around them seem to sparkle in all different colors, and the music was so loud Finn could feel it rumbling in his chest.

This was a loud song, one everyone seemed to know, which meant a lot of singing along and excited jumping, which turned into Poe doing obnoxious, amazing, slightly dirty things with his hips. Poe was beautiful like this, graceful and teasing and _happy_ , and Finn laughed before raising his eyebrows and stepping closer so he could put one arm around Poe's waist. "If these are the steps you're referring to, I'd be hard-pressed to forget them.”

Poe winked and moved in closer, squeezing Finn's hips and moving them so that they danced in tandem. "That’s it, buddy! Sashay one two three, and back two three, roll your hips, yeah, yeah!"

Poe smiled, pulling Finn's arms up over his neck. "Everyone's watching us. Don't be too sexy. Don't—" he laughed, but he was tickling Finn's sides, making him lose the rhythm, “miss a beat.”

"Poe!" Finn laughed, grasping his wrists and shaking him a bit. “You’re messing me up!”

"Okay, okay! Love you, buddy, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Poe said, leaning in for a kiss. "I'll be good."

Poe raised both hands in the air, snapping and sometimes clapping to the beat. "There. Try again?"

Finn narrowed his eyes, but once he had the beat again, he started moving his hips, albeit much less gracefully than Poe. He took one of Poe's hands and spun him out, then caught him in his arm and dipped him, dissolving into laughter before he kissed him.

"How was that?" he asked once he'd righted him.

Poe was laughing, arms going around Finn's neck (he couldn't help himself). "Yeah, buddy. That was great. I thought you were drunk? You're—"

Then he stopped, eyes caught by something at the hangar entrance. "Oh. That's what she was— _oh_ ," he said, and grabbed Finn's face to turn it.

"What're you— _oh_ ," Finn said, and blinked. "Where did she even get that," he squeaked, because Rey was wearing a tight, strappy blue dress that sparkled in the light and was, Finn noticed immediately, _almost completely open_ on the sides, and it left very little to the imagination. He stared helplessly as she walked over and grinned at them, one hand on her slim hips.

"Catching flies?" she asked, and tapped Finn's chin. He closed his teeth with an audible click and smiled at her.

"I was unprepared to see my fiancée in a slinky dress. Between your dress and Poe's hips, I may die tonight," he pointed out.

She laughed and looked over at Poe. "I borrowed it from Jess, because she didn't want to give Sevens a heart attack."

"I think it looks like she still might," Poe said a little breathily, since Jessika's little red number with absolutely no back had rendered Sevens speechless as well.

"Hey, I don't like you looking at other women like that," Rey said, grabbing Poe's chin, and as his eyes refocused he smiled. Her dress was sparkly and glittery—Poe loved glitter, as a rule: it looked like stars. The back of Rey's dress was just a criss-cross of straps, which added to the appeal.

"First of all, she's not a woman, she's a pilot," Poe said cheekily, "and second, if you think I'm not going to spend the rest of the night trying to dance on three legs, I—oh, well, shit," he said, catching sight of someone else.

"What? What is it?"

"Connix is wearing the black dress. There's no way Deeks will approach her now."

Finn looked, too, and grimaced.

"Oh, no."

Connix looked gorgeous, but that was the problem. She was with Timons, who were both dressed in a kind of  _too good for you_ aesthetic. It was a good look on both the blondes, but it wasn't going to help their plans for Deeks to work out.

Finn passed Poe to Rey. "You two dance. Jess and I have a plan."

After a whispered conversation with Jessika, they each set off in opposite directions. Jess went to find Deeks, who was pointedly not staring at Connix, while Finn walked right up to her and Timons and gave a polite half bow.

"You both made it! Did Rey get that dress from you?" Finn asked Connix, careful not to crowd her or Timons. Timons looked decidedly nervous, but she was here—in and of itself, that was more progress than most would have expected. Connix laughed and looked past Finn to where Rey and Poe were dancing.

"No, that one’s Jess’s. You like it?" she asked Finn.

He nodded.

"I like her in it, especially. I think she does, too," he answered. Rey was laughing at something Poe had said, and Finn's heart skipped a beat.

"I owe you a dance, I think, for that one," Finn said slyly.

"Hmmmm. Well, I _suppose_ I could dance. You okay here, Timons?" she asked the other woman, who nodded.

"I'm just going to stay here," she answered softly, so Finn held out a hand for Connix and led her to the others.

They danced for almost a minute before Jess and Deeks, careening around like fools, ran into them. In the amused chaos of everyone finding their balance and trying not to to hit each other, Finn ended up with a new dance partner. Jess demanded that he spin her, and he smiled and shrugged at Connix—what could he do?—and she waved him off.

Which left Connix and Deeks staring at each other. Connix knew exactly what this was about, but seemed to take pity on the stammering Deeks, because she held her hand out to him. “Well?”

To his credit, the kid grinned shyly and took it, and Finn dutifully spun Jess back over toward Poe and Rey.

"Smooth," Rey commented when they joined them.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Finn responded.

"Look at them, they're _precious_ ," Jess remarked. "I mean, for heteros."

Deeks was leaning toward Connix to hear what she was saying, but flinched back at whatever she said, leading her to put her hands on his shoulder and smile up at him in reassurance. Even from where they stood, Deeks' sheepish smile was obvious, and Finn smiled as Connix led them back into their dance.

He held out his hand in a fist toward Jess, and she knocked her own fist against it.

"I like this model of recruiting ex-stormtroopers for all the single people to date," Poe said, opening up so Finn could join them in a three-way dance.

Sevens came over to steal Jess back, so Jess could teach them how to dance.

"That was a cute idea," Poe told Finn. "Who came up with it?"

But Poe never heard the answer, because the music changed and his face lit up.

"KARÉ!" he suddenly bellowed, looking around.

Rey thought she might have heard Karé shouting Poe's name over the music.

"You two dance," Poe said, shoving them together. "I gotta...this is our _jam_..."

Rey laughed. "Okay, let's go see what he's up to. Then you have to teach me how to dance like you and Jessika were dancing! Maybe I should take off these dumb shoes..."

By the time Finn and Rey caught up with Poe, he and Karé were dancing in the center of the dance floor, and it looked like this had to have been rehearsed.

"Our fiancé literally plans dance routines with his pilots," Rey said in amused disbelief.

"I think just Karé. Are you actually surprised, though?" Finn responded, which made Rey laugh.

"Now that I think about it, no, I am not even a little surprised. They're...really good, actually," she said as the two pilots danced around each other, hips and shoulders working as they spun in tandem. Then again, they often did similar things in fast starships with much less room for error.

Since pilots were, as a rule, the best dancers, and Poe and Karé were the best dancers of the pilots, Poe and Karé were easily the best dancers of the night, and a crowd was forming just to watch them. It was an old routine, mostly, but they also read each other and improvised well, so that it looked like it was all pre-coordinated.

"Is Iolo watching?" Poe huffed. "Because he should be watching."

"You want to make him jealous?"

Poe winked. "Just in a _fun_ way. He’ll thank me in the morning."

"Well Rey and Finn are definitely looking—oh _this_ part, shit," Karé said, and dropped Poe onto his back as they went from dancing to what was really more synchronized rolling around on the ground in various erotic poses than dancing.

Next to Finn, Rey gasped. "Is _that_ dancing, too?"

Finn raised an eyebrow and tipped his head to the side. "By some definition?" he said, unsure that the definition was really quite that broad. "How are they even doing that? I'm not sure spines are supposed to bend that way," he added. Rey laughed.

"Oh come on, we both know he's very flexible," she said, though she hadn't known he was _this_ flexible. She stashed the knowledge away for later. There were so many ways that sort of thing could come in handy...

When the music changed, Poe and Karé had every intention of breaking back to their lifepartners (though they would, of course, always remain platonic dance life partners, and if they ever truly beat the First Order Poe had promised to go on _Dancing With The Military Stars_ with her, when they represented a branch of a military that actually existed), but Jessika Pava was disc jockeying...

"Oh _no_ she did not," Karé exclaimed, then laughed. "Come on, Poe."

Poe clutched his metaphorical pearls. "I'm absolutely _not_ dancing to—"

 _Promiscuous girl, wherever you are_  
_I'm all alone, and it's you that I want_ _  
_ Promiscuous boy—

Okay, this _used_ to be their song, before they each had life partners (and okay, back when this song was cool). Now Poe was getting married, for kriff's sake!

But it was _sooo_ catchy.

"Screw you, Pava!" Poe screamed over the music. She waved back at him happily.

"At least let's switch parts," Poe hissed at Karé, already rolling his hips to the female vocals.

Karé laughed. "Hey, you're the one who might get in trouble, not me." But at least the gender swap got laughs and made the routine less sexy and more humorous.

Rey threw a dark look over at Jess for encouraging Poe and Karé, but she cackled. She and Finn weren’t really the jealous types, and it was more sweet than uncomfortable watching them dance together. Finn couldn’t wait until ten years from know when he and Rey and Poe would dance together like that, like they had known each other all their lives.

Eventually the song changed, and Finn and Rey, still laughing, went to steal their fiancé back.

"Run along now, you got your own partners," Iolo was saying to Poe, and he didn't even pause before swinging Karé off her feet and kissing her fiercely. Finn and Rey closed in on Poe from either side and kissed his cheeks.

"You _guyyyys_ ," Poe said, pretending to be more embarrassed than he was. He was drenched in sweat but pulled them close. "Come on, come on, let’s dance, one more song, one more," he said, wriggling free and falling against the console where Jess was controlling the music to shout a new song at her. They saw her face light up and then the song changed, and a shout went up:

"Yeah!"

"Kriff the First Order!"

"You're going down!"

Poe returned to Finn and Rey, spinning them and bouncing to the music, and everyone sang along to

 _It's going down, I'm yelling timber_  
_You better move, you better dance_  
_Let's make a night you won't remember_ _  
_ I'll be the one you won't forget.

Finn especially liked the “Oo-ooh” part of the song with no words, and he sang it at the top of his lungs while they spun and waved their arms and jumped. He kept crashing into Rey and Poe, and eventually gave up and leaned on them, laughing.

Rey did kick off her shoes, letting Poe teach her a few dance moves, though jumping and flailing still seemed to be what this song encouraged. The music made her feel like she could take on the whole world herself.

When the song was over, Jess was snagged by Sevens and the music stopped for the moment until Snap jockeyed up. Finn buried his face in Poe's shoulder.

"'M tired," he mumbled suddenly.

"I'm tired, too," Rey said, burying her face in Poe's other shoulder, and Poe wound his arms around both of them.

"Well, at least you're making me feel young again if I can keep going longer than the both of you," Poe teased, swaying them gently as a slow song picked up. "Unless you're making me feel _very_ old and like I need to take my ickle baby affianced home early and tuck them into bed."

Finn smiled and let the gentle swaying lull him into something like sleepwalking. "I could go for that," he commented, but he was also happy right here. He made no move to stop the dancing, though Rey went so far as to yawn once the song was over.

"Mmmmm, bed and loves and snuggling," Rey hummed. Finn put his arm over Rey's shoulder.

"I'm with her," he told Poe, and raised his head to kiss him gently.

Poe huffed. "You two are so boring. But yeah, okay, let’s go to bed.”

He waved at a few people and led Rey and Finn, one on each arm, out of the hangar and into the halls where they could actually hear each other.

“So at this rate, I suppose you're going to have to catch me in the middle of an orgy with an entire Hutt cartel's harem before you two get properly jealous and remind me who I belong to, huh?" he teased. "The dancing did nothing for you." 

Rey smiled up at Poe, loving his wickedly creative imagination. "Well, that's an interesting scenario. Poe as _part_ of a Hutt cartel’s harem? Skimpy silky outfit and everything? You _are_ a great dancer."

“Gross,” Finn laughed. “I’m not going to pretend to be a Hutt, though. That’s not sexy.”

As they walked back to their bunk (the _Falcon_ would be too close to the music and they couldn't actually sleep there), Rey tucked her hand inside his belt, and Finn's hand was in his hip pocket, faintly teasing.

“Guess you’re lucky there’s a battle tomorrow,” Rey hummed. “Because I’d very much _like_ to remind you who you belong to.”

“I’m sure we could make that happen,” Poe offered, a little breathless.

"If we do that tonight, you won't sit very well in the cockpit tomorrow," Finn pointed out in a low voice.

“And we need our rest.”

Poe sucked in a breath and laughed. "You guys _are_ teasing me."

"Of course we're teasing you. And you love it," Finn whispered as he brushed his lips against Poe's neck. He nipped softly at Poe's ear and then drew away with a short laugh.

“No, that’s _you_ who likes teasing,” Poe complained.

"You know, there's probably just enough time to tie him up a little," Rey commented when they made it to their room. The boys were so transparent, she could feel them without even trying, like electricity in the air.

Finn looked over at her and smiled slowly.

"You think so? Just a little?"

"Just a _little_ ," Rey purred.

"It's not funny," Poe whined.

Rey shoved him back onto the bed and crawled on top of him.

"You make me suffer on what could be my last night alive— _ow_!" Poe cried, recoiling as Rey bit his shoulder—savagely and not sexily at all. "Kriff!"

"Don't even joke about that, Poe Dameron."

"Okay, sorry it was a—ahh! OW!" Poe said, as Finn punched him in the shoulder, too. "I said I was sorry!" 

"I shouldn't reward bad behavior," Rey said, but she had Poe’s hands cuffed to the headboard above him before he could blink, as matter-of-factly as though she were hanging curtains.

"No sudden moves and no more tasteless jokes," Rey commanded. "Finn, you hold onto the headboard.”

“Who, me?” A swell of interest began in Finn’s belly, swirling together with Poe’s.

“Of course. I have to make sure you don’t hurt yourselves and sleep well,” she said, and tugged both their trousers open.

Poe and Finn both hissed and arched towards her, and even if sex wasn’t something Rey needed like they did, it was something almost mechanical that she could _do_ , and she still loved having this sweet control over them.

Finn sighed, because she was beautiful like this: chin slightly raised as if very pleased with herself, get hair coming loose and trailing strands down over her shoulders.

"You still have clothes on," Finn commented as he laid down beside Poe and reached up to grip the headboard.

“Hm,” Rey said, and sat back to unzip her dress and push it off her hips as easily as a goddess who wasn't used to wearing clothes, anyway, and deaf to Poe's protests to leave it on. 

"I can't do that to Jessika's dress," she said, hanging it back up carefully. 

"You're—you're really pretty, Rey," Finn said earnestly, and not just because she was crouched above them now wearing only a pair of panties. She leaned forward and kissed him, then turned to give Poe her undivided attention for a moment—it was only fair. And if her hand strayed to brush lightly against Finn's cock, well, she pretended not to notice when he whined at her.

When Finn whimpered, Poe looked down to see her curling a hand over his cock, and Poe held his breath as she reached for his.

"Rey," he gasped and she closed her hands around them both. If Poe's mind could be anywhere but this bed right now, he would have imagined her gripping the yoke on a starfighter, with the power to save and destroy in her hands.

"How should I punish the naughty boy who comes first?" she wondered idly, making it into a game.

"Lots of kisses? But for the one who won," Finn suggested. He kept almost forgetting to hold on to the headboard, because he wanted to touch Rey's hair or reach up to pull her closer so he could kiss her. She was stroking both of them almost lazily, but with a grin of pure mischief at making them wait.

"That's not fair," Poe said, tugging on the cuffs until the bed rattled. "Finn's got the stamina of a Tattooine day, and he likes it, kriff," he groaned, arching his hips up into her touch. "And if you won't kiss me I'll throw a fit."

"It's true, you are very spoiled," Rey laughed. "On the other hand, you have one advantage because I'm not left-handed," she said, because she had her left hand on Poe.

"She's bluffing, she'll kiss us both," Finn said, breath hitching only slightly.

"Loser has to change the sheets tomorrow," Poe suggested.

"Tonight," Rey said, giving his cock a squeeze.

"Fine, tonight!" he gasped, shaking his wrists again. "If you ever let me g-go," he moaned. Not that he ever wanted to be let go, but he had a part to play that he enjoyed as much as Rey enjoyed playing the wicked scavenger.

"But you're so pretty like this, all tied up, all mine, safe and sound and not going anywhere," Rey purred, and she meant it—she loved having her boys where she knew they were safe, where she could see them and touch them and protect them. She turned her attention to Finn, who was being very diligent about holding on to the bed, even if his knuckles were going pale with how tight his grip was. "And what's this about bluffing? I should just kiss Poe to prove you wrong.”

She leaned closer and he could feel her breath against Finn's cheek either before she bit softly at his ear.

"Lucky for you, I like kissing you more than I like being right," she told him before pressing her lips to his and kissing him deeply. He sighed, which turned into a moan as she twisted her hand on his cock just enough to leave him desperate.

Poe keened and arched off the bed as she did the same to him.

"Rey, kriff," he gasped, writhing into her hand while Finn, _somehow_ , remained still. "Gods. Good. Please please please," he moaned, quickly becoming incoherent. "You take such good care of us, Rey, my queen, my stars."

Rey smiled.

"Mm, keep talking, Poe," she said, rewarding him with a quicker hand and a searing kiss, the game of stamina seemingly forgotten. "Finn, you could learn a thing or two from him."

Finn grumbled at this and hitched his hips into Rey's hand. "Rey—I love you, love how you love us, love how you care for us. You're so good and beautiful and I would kiss you forever if I could.”

"That's a start," she said warmly. "I love you too," she told him and leaned down to kiss him again.

Poe whimpered, and Rey laughed and kissed him, too. "If I let you come, you have to go clean up."

"I'll clean us up!" Poe volunteered, glad to use his tongue for anything. He lifted his head, but Rey let go of his cock to push him back.

"No, I want you both to get in the refresher."

"Ah, kriff, Rey!" Poe whined, squirming until she laughed and slid her hand around his cock again.

"I spoil you boys," she said, jacking him once or twice before letting go again, and doing the same to Finn.

"Rey!" Poe shouted again. He was _close_ , damn it.

"Please, Rey, _please_ ," Finn begged, and she smiled sweetly.

"If you insist," she said and finished them at the same time so she could lose herself temporarily in their bond. Finn kept quiet, but Poe screamed as he finished, and they both arched up off the bed in pleasure, Rey soaking it in as Finn and Poe lay there gasping.

"Good," she said, finally, reaching for a towel first to clean her hands, which she tossed onto Poe’s chest. "Now that's done. Go clean up, and come back to bed."

She unclipped the binders from the headboard.

"Yes, ma'am," Poe grinned, sitting up and moving into the refresher with Finn where he fell gently against him.

Finn hummed and put his arms around Poe's waist, holding him close for several breaths. After turning them so his back was to the water, he pressed his face to Poe's hair and sighed happily. "Do we really have to go save the galaxy? I'd really rather stay here with you and Rey," he hummed.

"Come on, aren't you pumped?" Poe said, but he mostly sounded tired, and he laughed. "After tomorrow we can sleep for a week, right? Well, lie in bed for a week, anyway. Sleep and fuck. Braid Rey's hair. Watch holos...uhh, get back to Yavin to finish planning the wedding…”

"I hear an awful lot of gossip and not a lot of washing!" Rey called, and Poe and Finn laughed and finished up in the fresher.

"And see Sammy and your dad, of course," Finn added as they tumbled from the fresher and dried.

"Oh gods I miss Sam," Poe agreed.

When they returned to the bed, Rey was already sprawled out under the covers—fresh covers.

"I thought _we_ had to change the sheets!" Finn laughed.

"Technically, neither of you lost. It seemed fair," she answered.

Finn climbed into bed next to her so he would be in the middle, for the time being.

"Clean sheets and that much more time to sleep—or snuggle. Sounds good to me," he hummed. He turned to look at Poe and held out a hand so he could pull him into the bed with them.

"We don't deserve you, Rey," Poe hummed, closing his eyes and reaching across Finn to hold her hand. "I don't deserve either of you. I gotta marry you fast before you think better of it."

Finn laid his own hand over Rey and Poe's clasped ones.

"I think we deserve each other," he ventured softly. Poe's breath was warm on his neck, and Rey was pressed against him.

When Finn spoke, Rey smiled and kissed his nose. Then she stretched across him to kiss Poe and decided Finn was a comfortable pillow. She scrunched around a little, but eventually settled half on top of him, her head on his chest and hand still holding Poe's.

Poe meant to say something—he meant to say a lot, actually, his heart swelling with too many emotions—but he was warm and sated and cozy and—when he opened his mouth—sleepy, so he shut it with a hum.

And when he slept he dreamed he was flying, flying over the island of Rey's dreams, over endless ocean, and Rey and Finn were flying with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please excuse the fluff. We wrote this when Carrie Fisher passed (so you can tell how far behind we are in editing/posting!).


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Twenty-seven days until the wedding.

Even though it was a long hyperspace flight with radio silence to Dantooine, Poe was practically giddy. That could have been all the caffeinated candy he had been munching on, and the fact that his mind kept wandering ahead. He needed his head in the game, and it _would be_ , but right now _he was getting married in a month!! To the most perfect people in the galaxy!! He needed a haircut!! BB-8 needed an oil bath!! And he didn’t care what Rey said, he was getting some serious manscaping done!!_

He ran through the plans again: Poe and every single one of his ships—forty strong—were cloaked, and armed with a full complement of proton bombs and ion cannons, and his Y-Wings had thermal detonators. They would make the first run to soften them up and then move to air support.

Finn was leading the ground assault on the heavily fortified central base, where they expected Snoke would be hiding, or at least Kylo Ren. Poe’s fists tightened on the yoke at the thought of him being there, but Rey and Luke would be there to face him together. Statura and Ematt would be coordinating the assault from the _Vapor_ , while General Organa, Ackbar, and Brance stayed behind with the techs and noncombs on Nkllon. Major Kalonia was staying on Nkllon, but she had assigned Dr. Lan to the _Vapor_ , and Sall and a team of medics to be on the ground with Finn, one for each platoon. There were five platoons in total: not a lot, but all the Resistance had, and they were well-trained to make ten men feel like a hundred.

It would be enough.

Rey was meditating in the cockpit of the personnel transport she and Finn were riding vanguard in, listening to the chatter of the pilots—Chewbacca was flying their transport, and Nien Numb flew the other, as they were more used to maneuvering bigger ships, anyway. She and Chewie were both trying not to worry about having left the _Falcon_ behind—it may have been the fastest ship in the Rebellion fleet, but it was outclassed by newer technology, now.

“Those aren’t exactly meditative thoughts,” Luke said, who was copiloting with Chewie.

“Chewie’s thoughts are distracting me,” she accused lightly.

[Maybe you shouldn’t listen] Chewie snapped. [Fifteen minutes til we drop out of hyperspace.]

“I’ll go tell Finn,” she said, and wound her way back through the huge transport with eighty souls on it to find her fiancé.

Finn looked up when he saw Rey's boots in the corner of his vision. He raised his eyebrows at her.

"Fifteen minutes," she told him, and he nodded. Word moved quietly through the rest of the hold and there was the quiet shifting of gear and uniforms as soldiers checked and rechecked blasters, knives, uniforms—anything they had to fight and to protect themselves.

"Everything okay?" Finn asked, and Rey shrugged a shoulder.

"For now. Chewie is concerned," she answered.

Finn pulled her into a hug and held her. Throughout the hold, there were others—friends, lovers, siblings—taking the last few moments of quiet to stand together, taking comfort in each others' presence. Sevens stood stone-faced in a little knot of other former stormtroopers. Between pilots and soldiers, by now ex-troopers made up about almost a fifth of their battle strength. Finn couldn't have been more proud of them. And it never would have happened without Deeks—who, in typical Deeks fashion, had come running up to him right before hopping into his A-Wing:

"Major?"

"Hey kid," Finn answered.

"I'm not—nevermind," Deeks grumbled, "I wanted to tell you thank you." Finn smiled at him and reached over to mess up his hair.

"For throwing you out of that AT-AA?" he asked, and Deeks nodded. "It's a good thing I did. You're one of the best here, Deeks. Take care of yourself.”

Deeks grinned.

"You didn't call me Kid!" he said brightly.

"Don't get used to it," Finn answered, and then nodded over to the A-Wing. "Go see to your ship."

Deeks nodded before bounding back to the A-Wing.

"Okay?" Rey asked, and Finn realized he was staring into space.

"Yeah. Just thinking. We're all set here," he told her, and kissed her hair. "I love you," he told her. "Be careful."

...

When BB-8 alerted Poe that it was time, Poe opened a channel. "Black Leader dropping out of hyperspace in T-minus two minutes. All Wings, report in."

BB-8 brought up a list, though Poe had it memorized.

"Deeks, buddy, we normally go in order by rank, so cool your jets," he told the young pilot when he had chimed in first of all.

"Oops! Sorry, sir!" Deeks chirped, sounding more excited than sorry.

Jess laughed. "What's next, we let babies pilot A-wings?"

"All right, Testor, he's earned his wings, give him a break," Poe reminded her. "And we are coming out of sublight now. May the Force be with us. Red group, green group, you're with me."

They were hitting the atmosphere as they came out of hyperspace. "Easy," Poe said, handling the Gs but noticed a few of the newer pilots struggling. "Blue group, draw back and cover us."

"Copy, Black Leader," Jess said, and he, Karé, and Iolo ran the head of Vee, the other wings falling in behind them.

" _Vapor_ , we have eyes on the target," Poe reported. "Three small buildings and one large one. We are starting our approach."

...

From inside the transport, Rey grabbed a handle beside Finn, feeling the ship shudder slightly from the atmosphere.

"No counter-attack, yet?" she asked. Finn's comm was hooked into the command line.

Finn shook his head. "They're on the approach," he told her, listening to the pilots banter back and forth. It sounded more forced than usual—they all knew the weight this battle carried.

Finn couldn't remember ever hating this part so much when he'd been in the First Order, but right now he was worried he might hyperventilate before they even landed. Rey, feeling his anxiety, reached for his hand.

The hold had gone quiet and she nudged him.

"Say something to them," she said softly, and he turned to see the expectant faces of...almost all his troops. What was he supposed to say?

"I think we all know what's on the line here,” he began, “and why we're fighting. Heck, most of you have been in this fight on this side longer than I have."

Some of the veteran soldiers smiled.

"Someday there'll be stories about this where this speech is much less embarrassingly inadequate, but it is what it is." He took a breath. "Wherever you came from, whatever you did before this, whatever you’re going to do after, we're all family. Watch out for each other. In the First Order, we were taught that feelings and caring for others was a weakness because it hindered us from fighting effectively."

He looked at the other ex-stormtroopers and a few of them flashed grins.

"Which is, as we all know, absolute bantha shit." This got some laughs of surprise. "And it's one of the reasons we'll win. A really big reason, actually. So whatever else happens, remember that you're fighting alongside family. And—thank you."

He paused awkwardly.

"Let's go, I dunno, drink some fascist tears?" he finished, which got a laugh before it got cheers and yelling, but it found a convenient outlet for all the anxiety that had been building.

In the commotion, Rey grabbed the back of Finn's head and kissed him, which made everyone cheer even more. Coni and Dart followed their lead, and Sevens licked her lips and smiled softly, perhaps imagining kissing their pilot, as Finn and Rey were imagining doing the same to theirs.

...

"Stay close, Poe," Rey had instructed Poe, before they left. "I know you love atmospheric flying."

"What? Me? That would be crazy," Poe had hummed, still distracted by kissing Finn.

"Poe, you're not listening."

"I am. You need me to be close so you can wreck an AT-AT or something," he said, looking at her sidelong. "That's right? Not that they’re gonna have—whoa!"

Finn had used the moment of distraction to dip him backwards into a kiss, and he came up whooping about his back finally having popped.

...

And now Finn was dipping her in a kiss, but she wasn't _old_ so her back did nothing of the sort, and they resurfaced giggling.

"Go get 'em, tiger," he told her.

She laughed. "I should say the same to—" Then her gaze grew hard, like she was looking something far off, and her smile had an almost cruel twist to it.

" _He's_ here."

...

"And we're away!" Poe whooped, trying to tamp down on the excitement rushing through his blood. They were decimating the bases, and got off a few shots against the biggest building, and they saw scattered stormtroopers running scared in the chaos and rubble below. "Blue group, gold group, prepare to make your run. Red and green, watch your sixes."

"And all the other numbers, right, Commander?"

" _Yes_ , Deeks, it's just a saying," Tova's voice came through, annoyed, before Poe could rebuke the child that he was actually really regretting letting off the bench for this mission.

"If we blow up, I'm blaming you, kid," Nova agreed.

"Cut the chatter, guys. Just because we're shooting quadducks in a barrel, doesn't mean we lose our professionalism....and, uh, that's just another figure of speech," Snap said, laughing, before reporting: "Blue squadron bombs away!"

…

"Rey..." Finn said in warning. "I know you have to face him, or whatever. But be careful. You have a kid and two fiancés who need you," he told her, and he shook her shoulder softly to get her attention.

She blinked and looked up at him.

"Two future husbands and a kid who needs a mom. Come back," he told her earnestly. He held her gaze until she nodded. "I want to hear you say it," he said quietly, and she smiled and kissed his nose.

"Nothing would ever stop me coming back to you. I promise."

Rey pulled on her goggles—still homemade, like her old ones, but with better materials and a newer stormtrooper visor—as Luke and Chewie opened the side panels upon their approach.

"I still promised Poe I would get him Kylo's head as a wedding present," she said with a grin, and hung off the side of the starship until it was close enough that she could jump, executing a spin and a three-point landing.

Behind her, Finn gave the order, and soldiers were jumping out before the vessel even touched down.

Above them, Poe used Rey's lightsaber to judge the head of the attack, and called another bombing run—green and gold squadrons, the Y-wings and other slower, heavier ships—to light the place up while the X-wings circled like birds of prey.

Finn leapt off the transport after Rey, blaster already firing as stormtroopers poured from the compound. They took cover where they could, behind trees and rocks, until all troops were on the ground.

“A, B, C troops, form up! D and E, cover! F, to me! G through J, sweep out into right flank," Finn bellowed, and the troops split into nine-person units. They'd tried larger units at one point, but any more than nine resulted primarily in elbowing and tripping and complete disorganization.

There was a flash out of the corner of his eye and Rey leapt past, lightsaber flashing as she charged well ahead of the line.

"Rey! Get back here!" Finn shouted at her, and was nearly run over as Luke tore past him after his errant, hothead Padawan.

"I've got her!" he called back, which in no way made Finn any happier about her charging in after she'd promised she wouldn't.

Rey let the Force guide her, a blue tendril drawing her in like the scent of blood in the water drew sharks. She slashed through walls and stormtroopers who stood before her, feeling Ren nearby. He was here, on this planet, in this compound...

Her eyes followed her feelings upwards.

Probably in that tower.

...

"Okay, guys, let's concentrate on that big tower," Poe ordered. "Let's do as much damage as we can before..."

"Black Leader this is the _Vapor._ "

"Shit, you know, I almost knew that was coming—YES SIR Admiral," Poe answered.

"We have a Star Destroyer inbound, they'll be sending TIEs. We could use some support up here."

"Just one? Roger that. Red group, bring out the welcome mat for ‘em," Poe said, sending some of his best pilots to take care of that.

...

As soon as his troops were assembled, Finn signaled them forward, going after Rey and Luke because he didn't fully trust them to stay out of trouble. Over the comms, he heard the warning about the incoming Star Destroyer and TIEs, but he had time to do little more than glance up. He did, at least, catch a flash of black and orange as Poe shot past overhead, barrel-rolling. Finn wondered if he was doing it for any specific reason, or if he was just being Poe.

It was probably the latter...

There was a brief lull as they broke through the first line of defense, which had already been partially scattered by Rey, Luke, and some of the X-Wings and A-Wings, but it was short-lived. By the time they'd regrouped somewhat, more stormtroopers came charging from the tower, and Finn froze as, from too far away to do a kriffing thing, he saw a slash of angry red, and more than half the distance to it, the bright, sunny yellow of Rey's lightsaber.

And then the next wave of stormtroopers hit them, and he was kept busy firing and moving, trying to keep an eye on his troops and his betrothed all at once.

"There you are," Rey said, skidding to a halt as Kylo Ren stomped out from an entrance to the tower, which was otherwise crumbling around them. Poe spun by this time without shooting, so he must have seen them. He had good eyes...

Ren was flanked by three figures dressed in dark clothes.

"This is ending here, Ren. The First Order is finished. And your mother wants to talk to you." Rey spun her saber and took an offensive stance.

She glanced over her shoulder, but Luke hadn't caught up to her yet—or else he was doing something else. "Give me an excuse, though."

Ren stood still for a moment, and waited.

"Here's your excuse," Ren said, and held a comlink to his mask. "Give the order," he said.

...

"Commander, are you seeing this?" Snap, who had _really_  good eyes and even better instincts, said across his comms to Poe.

Poe looked, and his heart dropped to the pit of his stomach as he watched a sea of black-and-white pouring out of—somewhere; up out of the ground, as if by magic—to surround the compound.

"What the hell? Finn, Finn," he said, plugging in a direct channel. "Ground Leader, you are about to have some serious company. We're on it. Blue group, I need you to—"

"Poe!" Karé's voice now. "Poe, we've got inbound star destroyers. All five of them, Poe. They're all here."

How could they _all_ be here?! Poe wondered, as his mind raced to determine how he would divide his forces. Timons' information was good—but how could they all be _here_ unless they knew...

_Unless they knew that they were coming._

Don't say it, don't—

"It's a trap!" Ackbar said.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Twenty-seven days before the wedding. 
> 
> Spoilery warnings are at the end of the chapter.

Luke came up behind her, a steady presence, his lightsaber already activated and humming. He was Rey's only comfort as suddenly platoons of stormtroopers surrounded them, coming up from the ground by all appearances.

"You take Ren, I'll handle the other three."

"What other three?" Rey said. She _saw_ them, but: "Oh I can handle them."  

This was the wrong thing to say, as they suddenly drew and activated vibro-weapons—a staff, a bludgeoning weapon, and some kind of blaster, it looked like—and she felt the Force flickering as dangerously through them as through Kylo Ren's lightsaber.

Luke slid her a slightly annoyed look.

...

They'd planned on meeting plenty of resistance when they attacked, and they'd known they would be outnumbered—but not like this. _Nothing_ like this. There were stormtroopers everywhere, none of them showing the least bit interest in surrendering.

Finn glanced around and saw his troops making valiant efforts to stay together and stay alive. "All units to me!" he shouted, and shot a stormtrooper who tried to break into the middle of his own fireteam.

They numbered barely more than a hundred when they all converged, but now they could guard their flanks and backs, and they could push forward.

To Finn's surprise, it actually worked, and they gained ground toward the tower and toward Rey. But it wasn't enough—now Rey and Ren were fighting, and Luke was keeping the three figures with Ren busy, and even from this distance Finn could tell that Ren was barely putting forth any effort, drawing Rey into foolish risks. She knew better than that! But she was too far away and too focused to notice Finn urging her as hard as he could to breathe and to be careful and to _stop being stupid! I can’t watch you die!_

And then she slipped, and everything slowed to a grinding halt for one horrifying moment.

...

"Fighters coming in!"

"Got two on your tail!"

"Poe, we need some help up here!"

Poe grunted and hit the console, strafing another company of stormtroopers below, and seeing Rey battling with Ren, and Luke with three other maniacs in dark cloaks. He had lost sight of Finn, but heard him still over the comlink. Above him, his pilots were drowning in TIEs—but no more than the ground troops were drowning in infantry.

Hoping Rey didn't need him immediately, "Red Group, let's go break 'em up out there. Green Group, stay down here and protect the troops," Poe said, and shuddered out of the atmosphere, switching the controls over to starfighting. It was easier in some ways to fight in space—easier to move, and you could shoot further, and there were neat little tricks you could do in the vacuum  that were impossible in atmosphere. Also, his shields were recharging faster in the direct light of the planet's sun.

On the other hand, he had never _seen_ so many TIEs.

...

It was Luke who got in the way. He turned in time to see Rey drop to a knee, and he did the only thing he knew would work—he flicked his lightsaber off and hurled it at Kylo Ren, and it slammed off his mask with an absurd clang.

Instead of killing Rey, Kylo's lightsaber slashed down her hip and leg.

Luke's lightsaber rebounded back to his hand and he leapt over his fallen Padawan to take up the fight, pushing Ren back toward the tower.

Rey dropped with a howl of rage—Poe was too far, out of the atmosphere and too far for her to feel him, and Finn was almost out of range, and she didn’t have enough power if they weren’t here!

An old panic that she was being left behind again clawed at her.

"Rey!" Luke cried, and forced Ren to parry with his lightsaber, using his own as a bludgeoning instrument before he flicked it back on.

The Knights of Ren re-engaged Luke, swooping in recklessly enough that Luke ran one of them through, but Kylo sidestepped as he was now forced to fight the other two and made straight for Rey.

Rey watched Luke using moves she hadn't really thought he _knew_ , and flips she thought he had forgotten.

"Luke!" she cried, trying to get up and failing. Her leg didn't even _hurt_ but she couldn't stand.

And then Kylo attacked her with a vengeance, and she activated her gold blade just in time as he bore down on her.

"You're afraid again," she heard him say to her, in his oddly pleasant voice. "I can feel it. Afraid you can't win. Afraid that you can't protect anyone—and they can't protect you."

" _You're_ afraid!" Rey snarled, rolling back and kicking him in the knee with her good leg, and when he went down she slammed on top of him until they were rolling in the dirt. He hit her in the face and she punched him in the balls. She had _never_ been in a battle so filthy, both their lightsabers so forgotten. "Afraid I'll beat you again."

Ren probably hadn't been expecting one of his own men to crash into him, but that was exactly what happened, and then Luke was between Rey and Ren again, fighting all the knights of Ren, his lightsaber a shield of light as he whirled it to strike and block. His attack was so ferocious that he started pushing them all, step by step, back away from Rey. She watched, still trying with no luck to rise, as Luke slammed the Force into Ren with an outstretched hand, knocking him back into his tower.

A crack formed in the stone behind him.

...

Finn didn't think Rey even registered that he was nearby. She was struggling to get up, one leg completely useless due to the long wound caused by Ren's lightsaber.

The Resistance soldiers had pushed forward with him, and they were fighting like demons, but they were being overwhelmed. Luke was still fighting Ren, but the tower was creaking dangerously.

"Luke!" Rey howled, realizing it at the same time as Finn.

That tower was coming down.

With a rumbling crack, and then a rush of air, the tower collapsed in on itself, taking Kylo, knights, and Luke Skywalker all in an instant.

"LUKE!” Rey shrieked. “NO! _LUKE_!"

In the shocked silence from Resistance and First Order alike, Finn made a choice.

"Resistance! Fall back! Retreat!" he called to his remaining soldiers, and shouted into his comms. They turned and fled, carrying their wounded, those who could still fight covering their retreat. Finn bent down and picked Rey up off the ground. "I'm sorry Rey. I'm sorry, I'm sor—" said, swallowing a sob as she tried to get away from him to rescue her master.

Coni, tears streaming down her cheeks and blood on her chest, ran right into them and paused to cover Finn as he wrestled Rey into his arms.

"I'm so sorry," he told Rey and Coni both, and then he let Coni lead the way.

"What? Finn, what—what’s going on?" Poe, far above them, loop-de-looping to lose a pair of TIEs and pick some off of Tova and Nova. "Ground Leader, come in, what is your sit rep? What's going on down there?"

"It's a trap, we—they knew, Poe! They kriffing knew! There were too many, we have to retreat. Rey's hurt, and Luke—" he stopped, unwilling to say it over the comms on the wild hope that if he didn't say it, it couldn't be true. "We have to get out of here, regroup—find our kriffing leak and stop it."

He shifted Rey in his arms. She'd stopped trying to wriggle out of his arms, but now her face was buried against his chest, and she had a hand clenched so hard in his shirt that her knuckles were white. He could see her shaking. He wasn't sure if it was with anger, grief, shock, or all of the above.

"All right, we'll cover you," Poe said, taking a deep breath and holding it for a second. "I know, BB-8, see if you can lock it down. Admiral, they're getting pounded down there."

"You have the authority, Commander," was the response he expected, and got.

"All Wings, this is Black Leader. We are pulling out. Get your nav computers programmed, and protect our transports. They get out, then we get out. Stay sharp," was drowned in the continuing cacophony of chatter:

"You picked one up, watch it!"

"Keep out of that star destroyer flack!"

"I'm hit!" "Blue three, I've lost forward shields!"

"I need some help, here, I need some help!"

"Ha! Gotcha, Order scum!" That last one came from Deeks. He was still flying like a maniac, but at least he was okay.

Poe switched channels again.

"Finn, we've got your back. Get your people to their transports, we'll keep 'em off your backs. You know how jealous I am about anyone except me or Rey getting on your back," he said, trying in vain to lighten a very dark mood.

But they had this under control. They had lost some people, but the situation wasn't dire, yet. They would live to fight another day.

"Finn, I'm coming back into the atmosphere, buddy, I'm coming back for y—"

The light of ten suns suddenly flashed across Poe's canopy, and he blinked rapidly, trying to refocus as he heard pilots cry out and wince. One of the newer pilots immediately spun out of control and crashed into a Destroyer.

"What the kriff was that?"

"Did it come from the Star Destroyer?"

It happened again, and then a third, even brighter flash. Poe’s vision went spotty.

“Somebody taking pictures?”

Poe rubbed his eyes, trying to clear the spots.

"Oh Force, I can't see!"

"Don't look at it! Close your eyes!"

"Poe, I can't see!"

"Why is my visor malfunctioning?"

Poe's world narrowed as though he were watching his lifeblood drain out of him as dark spots in his vision swam and grew and stayed dark, like a piece of flimsi burning away a picture held up in front of him.

“No, no,” he said, reaching out in front of him like he might keep his vision from flickering out.

"Fuck! Fuck, I'm blind!"

“What can do that?”

"Commander, I can't see anything!"

They were blind.

All of them were blind. Poe heard the sounds of screaming and crashing, as pilots panicked and flew into one another, as TIEs picked off the aimless starfighters. All he could do was listen.

...

Above them, their cover had become weapons against them.

Without their vision, the pilots couldn't fly, and astromechs could only do so much. An A-Wing slammed into the ground near their transport, only missing the other one because it had already taken off.

"Poe! Poe, what happened? Answer me!" Finn demanded, too panicked to care if this was their private frequency or not. He fell to his knees on the transport as Chewie revved their engines and flung them skyward. Rey stirred as he nearly dropped her.

"Where's Poe?" she asked, feeling for his presence almost by instinct. She found it, but it was— _wrong._

"POE! KRIFFING DAMMIT, ANSWER ME!" Finn yelled into the comm, his composure slowly shattering as panic took over.

"BB-8, cut my comms," Poe said, and shoved a hand up into his helmet to rub his eyes, and to steel himself to put on a brave front if no one’s sight came back.

He blinked. Still nothing. Okay. He had people to look out for, no time to panic. _You always said you could fly this bird blindfolded..._

"Okay, Bee. I'm gonna need your eyes, bud. Your lenses, whatever. Comms back on," he said when he had composed himself.

"All Wings. Jump to hyperspace if you have your coordinates plugged in. Get out of here." BB-8 trilled a portside warning, and Poe jinked to the right. He was lucky, understanding Binary aurally—more than half his squadron relied on the cockpit readouts to communicate with their astromechs, so they were doubly crippled. "If not, get your astros working on those coordinates. If you're blind, get home. Do I have anyone not blind? Report in."

"Red-two," came Iolo's voice. "I can see, Poe."

"Arana, gods bless your Keshian corneas."

Most of green squadron, on the planet, were also okay, and Ackbar reported that the Vapor had replaced its pilots, though Poe was pretty sure that meant Ackbar was now flying, too. "Okay, I need you covering our retreat, buddy. Green group, we need some help up here, half of you meet us topside. Finn?" he said, switching his comms back by muscle-memory to the sound of Finn screaming in his ear.

“POE DAMERON YOU—”

"Finn, Finn— _Major_ , shut up and listen to me! The Order used some kind of—ray weapon. We're blind up here, Finn. Green group is pulling out, but I'm leaving a few there to watch you. I need you to get as many of your people out as you can. We're doing the same up here." He tried to sound calm, but he wasn't sure how level it came out as he relied on BB-8's commands and warnings. "Start your people programming hyperspace jumps now."

“Poe, you get out of there. We don’t need support, get your people out—”

Finn's answer crackled out as the comms switched.

"Gold-nine here, sir. Tova and Nova. We were behind the _Vapor_ so we’ve got eyes. We've got your back, sir!"

"Bee, how many of our people are still out there?" Poe asked, directing all power to the shields and closing his S-foils to better evade fire.

[Green squadron 12/15, no jumps. Gold 2/17 still here, eight jumps. Blue 4/15, seven jumps. Red group...er...]

"BB-8, we are super-low on time right now."

[13/14. We lost Ziff.]

"Fuck!"

[None of them have jumped, Master-Poe.]

"I gathered that. Fuck. BB-8, get their astromechs plugging in coordinates and jumping them out of there whether they want to or not. That is a Command override."

Force-damned idiot flyboys and flygirls. Poe could hear Jessika _sobbing_ and she refused to jump!

"Red group, I repeat, unless you are Captain Arana, get out of here! I'm going to court martial anyone who—"

"Not til the transports are gone, Commander—" Snap said, and then spluttered as his droid began making the jump, "what—hey! What the—" and he was gone.

BB-8 continued to update him—Binary was a quick language—as more pilots jumped away or were shot down, and how to avoid enemy fire, but the little droid was overheating, and Poe grunted as _Black One_ was hit. He couldn't even see the console and he knew it was bad.

...

There was nowhere to stabilize the injured on the transports, since they'd planned on being able to return to the _Vapor_ with any wounded. But some of the soldiers were already laying down jackets, emergency blankets, and anything else they could find to create a short of makeshift medbay. Sevens, bless their soul, had organized anyone with battlefield first aid experience and was dispatching the most experienced to help those who needed it the most.

This was all mostly lost on Finn, who cradled Rey in his lap and listened, unable to do a thing, as pilots were forcibly hyperspaced home and Poe tried to make do with those they had left. The transport rocked alarmingly and there was an explosion nearby, but, "Still here, sir!" came over his comm, and he let out a breath he'd been holding—Tova and Nova were still out there. "Do you have the jump programmed?" Tova asked, and the other transport reported in affirming that they were ready to go.

"First transport, make the jump," Finn commanded, and heard the comm click off, its limited range not intended to communicate across a hyperspace lane.

"Your turn, sir," Tova said, but Finn...couldn't. He couldn't give the command. Poe was still out here.

"Major, you have to go, we're about to have—that's _right_ you bastard, we have shields, now!" Tova hollered.

"We have company, Major, get out of here!” Nova added. “We’ll see you back home!”

Finn buried his face against Rey's hair and switched the comm over so only Poe would hear him.

"Hey Poe? We'll meet you back at base, okay? I gotta get this behemoth out of here," he said.

"Alright, BB-8 what’s the—Finn—we can't cover you much— _seriously_?—longer, get—" The signal was glitchy.

Chewie roared suddenly and the transport veered sharply to the left. It shuddered as they took a hit, and in his other comm, Tova and Nova yelled obscenities as their guns overheated and failed, leaving them and the transport completely vulnerable.

“Nova—”

“I see it. Shields forward—we've got you, Major!” Tova shouted over the comm.

Then there was an explosion, and then his voice cut out.

The transport rocked from a nearby explosion and Finn closed his eyes. Up in the cockpit, Chewie made a mournful sound and swung them out of the debris. Refusing to cry, Finn scrambled to adjust his comlink, to find Poe again in the chaos.

"Black Leader? Poe?”

“Gold-nine, come in! Godsdamnit. Finn, buddy, _jump_ —kriff, Arana, we got a situation—get outta there _now_.”

“Poe, can you hear me? I love you. We love you. See you soon," Finn said, and felt the acceleration of the ship's engines getting ready to fling them into the jump.

"I know. I lo—" Rey heard Poe say through Finn's comlink, and then they launched into hyperspace and the line terminated with a short, final roar that clicked to static.

Rey burst into tears.

"I—I just—can't believe he's gone," she said, as Finn held her, trying to stifle her sobs in his shoulder.

There were enough people crying on this ship, and she wasn't helping, she knew, but Luke was _gone_.

Their last serious conversation, on Yavin, about the Force, came back to her—the Force is neither good nor evil, and she screamed and hit Finn's shoulder with the flat of her fist—it was padded, but he grabbed her wrist and shushed her, anyway, as she cried.

...

"I know. I love you, too," Poe said, finishing the statement because he had to.

[Repairing hyperdrive. Jink up!] BB-8 reported, but Poe could hear other alarms going off, and he _knew_ his baby. She wasn't going to make this jump.

"Belay that, Bee. Focus on our shields," he insisted, as they continued taking fire. "We need to get the rest of the guys out of here. Both transports away?"

[Yes] BB-8 said nervously.

"Admiral, you still out there?"

Someone who wasn't Ackbar answered. "Commander, we're getting pounded out here. It's like they can see right through the cloak!"

Of course they could. The _Vapor_ was practically handed to them on a silver platter—of _course_ the First Order could see through their cloaking tech.

"Jump out of here. That is an order. If we're gonna evacuate base, we need you there."

"Commander, your hyperdrive is—"

"I know, Bee's working on it. We're covering you! BB-8, report."

[So you _do_ want me working on the hyper—]

"No!" Poe snapped. "Who's still out there?"

[Kun and Arana.]

"Karé," Poe shouted into his comlink. "Karé, jump _now_ , that is an order."

"I am not leaving either of you!" she shouted back.

"Yes you are, Karé. We're the last ones, Poe. Programmin' nav computer now. See ya back on base, Karé."

"Yeah, Arana's the only one gonna _see_ anything nowadays," Poe laughed. They were in the eye of the storm, almost—Iolo protecting them, and Karé and Poe both good enough pilots to essentially, actually, fly blind.

_Gods, what would the Resistance do with a bunch of blind pilots?_

"Okay. Okay. I'm jumping now," Karé said, and then she was gone, too.

"BB-8, how's _Black One_ 's hyperdrive?"

[I am working on it, Friend-Captain-Arana] BB-8 insisted.

Poe's eyes welled.

"Mother of meteors, Arana, get out of here while you still can," Poe pleaded. Something rocked his ship. “Resistance is gonna need you.”

“Not without you, Poe.”

[Losing deflector shields!] BB-8 warned.

"Arana—Iolo, please, don’t—"

"Court martial me later. I'm not—"

 _Black One_ was close enough to feel the explosion when Red-Two was destroyed.

Poe flinched but rode it out. He didn't call to see if Iolo had successfully ejected: he wouldn't survive the vacuum of space. Pilots liked to say the lucky ones don’t leave behind a body: they become stardust.

Poe’s comms were all static now.

[Master-Poe?] BB-8 hooted.

"We're not getting the hyperdrive fixed in time, are we?"

[Unlikely.]

"Okay. We're gonna take a few of them with us, then. Lock onto the _Finalizer_ 's nav panel for me, buddy. Try to keep them from following—"

They took heavy fire, from all sides, and BB-8 was barely able to keep them from colliding with other starfighters, much less avoid their fire.

Things were smoking, sparking, crumpling. Poe was pretty sure he was venting cabin pressure.

[Target locked, Master—]

"Bee, don't _call_ me that," Poe snarled, desperate. Then, “I’m sorry.”

Because his next command took away their choice:

"BB-8, eject and security shut down, Command Override phi-alpha-nu-218."

BB-8 didn't protest. They couldn't, and that was the worst part. Poe heard and felt his droid eject, and now he was alone with his targeting computer.

His S-foils were closed, so he was already picking up speed, and the blip of the targeting computer turned into a proximity alert he ignored. By the time it turned into a collision alert, he held down on the trigger, felt his nose slam into something solid he really hoped was the _Finalizer_ , and knew no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: Minor character deaths. Major characters presumed dead but not actually dead. This is a fluffy series, we wouldn't do that to you.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Twenty-seven days before the wedding.

The transport was in barely controlled chaos, and that was only because Sevens was ruling their makeshift medbay with an iron fist. Finn stirred from where he was sitting, still holding Rey close and petting her hair. He took her to Sevens and they clasped one of Finn's shoulders and one of Rey's.

"If you can move her to a bed, we can get someone to look at that leg," they said gently, and Finn moved past them to set Rey in a free space. He had no desire to leave her, he wasn't sure he ever could until he had Poe back in his arms, and shuffled until he could pull her against his chest.

Rey was still sniffling, but seemed too worn even to respond when one of the newer ex-troopers, Saff, who had attached themselves to medical, knelt next to Rey and set to cutting away the fabric around her wound.

"Sevens?" Finn asked, stirring himself suddenly.

They looked over at him, listening.

"Thank you."

"Just taking care of my team, sir," Sevens replied.

Finn nodded. He let his eyes wander over his broken and battered troops. Most were tending to or comforting each other—but not all. Coni crouched in a corner, alone. Unhurt, but only as unhurt as someone who had had their boyfriend die in their arms.

"Coni—" Finn started, but his voice wobbled dangerously.

She looked up, but not really at him.

He held out an arm toward her, and she gazed at him as if blind for several moments before she blinked and slid along the floor to his side.

"I'm so sorry," he told her, and the blank look on her face crumbled into a choked sob as she let him pull her into a one-armed hug.

"Sir, I want—I need to do something. Anything," she said several minutes later, sitting back and looking at Rey in Finn's arms, almost jealously.

"Could you get ah, a head count? And then could you go up front and have Chewie hail the other transport and get a sit rep?" he told her, and she nodded and got up.

Finn felt like he had been neglecting his duties, but realized this whole exchange had not taken so long—it was just that his perception of time was not currently reliable. Saff was only just beginning to clean the dirt from around the wound, having cut away one whole side of her loose trousers to get to the gash in her leg. Sevens nudged the other ex-trooper out of the way and took over for her.

When Rey suddenly gasped and grabbed for Finn's arm, Sevens drew back.

"Sorry, did I hurt you?" they said, but Finn and Rey were looking at each other.

"Something's happened," Rey said. She felt like she had been punched in the stomach by the Force, but other than that it was all horribly unclear.

"I felt it, too," Finn agreed, and went for his blaster to make sure it had a fresh power pack. In case they were being pursued, and might be boarded.

"No, I mean—" Rey began, but didn't finish.

Finn was expecting something up ahead: but Rey feared what they had left behind. _Was Poe all right? Had Luke somehow survived? Or Kylo Ren?_

"We have to go back," she said, luckily not very loudly, but Sevens still looked nervous.

Finn shook his head, frowning.

"We—can't. Rey, you know that," he told her.

They had too many injured, including their sole Jedi. Dantooine would still be crawling with enemy ships. Going back now would mean capture or death, and that would mean the friends they'd lost in escaping would have died for nothing. Finn, as a Major, couldn't do that, even if Finn, as a human being, wanted to. He glanced nervously over at Sevens.

"...Do you know if Jess made it out, sir?" Sevens asked, knowing they shouldn't but unable to help themselves.

"I thought I heard her jump," Rey said, and took advantage of the lull to say, "I'm fine, Sevens, the blade cauterized the wound.”

Sevens was currently ignoring her reassurance that she was fine. "I think what you mean is that it's not bleeding."

In spite of himself, Finn smiled. "She did make the jump. Her mech was helping her pilot," Finn said, and looked up as Coni returned. "Have you heard back from the other transport?"

"Other transport verified they received the order, but they haven't responded with numbers yet." 

Finn sighed softly—he would just have to wait.

"Who's flying that one?"

"Nien Nunb, sir,” Coni reported, her manner business-like and detached. “He says he has some of ours, and I know we have some of theirs but I can access the lists and start checking people off. They did a headcount and they have forty-five. Eighteen walking wounded, three critical. We have fifty-three. Two critical, thirteen walking wounded. We're counting injuries like Rey's that aren't life-threatening as walking wounded. I'll let you know when we know more."

Finn blinked in surprise. His people were taking care of things. The world wasn't going to fall apart without him.

"Thanks. Uh...dismissed," he said, and Coni returned to the cockpit, presumably back to listening to the comms.

The final count was one-hundred sixty-four out, ninety-two soldiers back, more than half of them on stretchers. The pilots were much worse off—it was difficult to get a head count remotely with so many of them having been stricken _blind_ —and the longer that Poe failed to check in, the worse it got among all of them. Poe was a beloved commander, as much as he was Finn and Rey’s beloved, and no one liked not hearing from him.

Panic was keying up again as they neared Nkllon, and it didn't help that the base wasn't responding to their hails.

"Sir, I think you had better get up here," Coni said. "Still no answer from HQ." 

Rey forced herself to her feet and pushed to the cockpit ahead of Finn, part of her knowing the only way he would go there is if she was there, too.

"Pava, listen to me. What's the situation?" she demanded into the available comlink.

"Rey—we don't even—" Jess began, sounding far away and tired.

"What good are a bunch of blind pilots going to do, anyway?" that was Bastian.

"Why isn't Iolo answering? Where's the Commander?"

"I can't put this bird down blind!"

Rey tried again, her frustration creeping into her voice. "Snap, are you there? Get your fighters in order and see who needs help landing blind, or we're going to have even _more_ dead on our hands."

The panic was creeping in, spreading. The soldiers began to panic, too. Everything felt like it was falling apart around their ears.

Finn heard the comms devolving into chaos and switched on his own channel to do something about it.

"THAT'S ENOUGH! Everybody shut up and listen."

The voices stopped, except for the sound of several people sniffling quietly. "Okay. I know everything just fell apart and that we can't raise the base on the comms, but I need all of you to get yourselves in order and report in to your squadron leader, or their second-in-command. Your astromechs understand you, even if you don't understand them. Snap, since we haven’t heard from Black Leader, you’re Squadron Commander. Just because someone’s not answering is no cause for a panic.”

The pilots didn’t need him to tell them their chain of command, but it made everyone feel better to hear that.

“When we drop out of hyperspace, whatever is happening on that base, your only job is to keep your hands off the yoke and let your mech land you."

Finn took a deep breath. He left some quiet for any dissenting voices to chime in. When they didn't, he breathed a sigh of relief. "There will be time for grief later. Right now, I need your focus. We'll get through this together, or else not at all. So breathe, settle yourself, report in, and get ready to land. Clear?"

He got a chorus of _Yes sir_ s.

He switched over to his personal comm and raised Jess, again, maybe just needing to hear from a friend. "Hey, Pava. Doing alright for now?" he asked, and heard her clear her throat.

"I can't see, Finn. I keep trying, but I—not even the lights on my console. I'm blind," she said with a shaky voice.

"I know. Close your eyes and keep them closed. Will R4 land you alright?" he asked. The droid whistled sadly, but it was an affirmative. "Good girl," he told her.

"I've got to report in to Snap," Jess said tiredly.

"Thanks, Jess. See you once we've landed. Oh, and—" he started, but Sevens had already taken over the comm.

"You better land safe, flygirl," they said gruffly, and there was a soft gasp from Jess.

" _Sev_ —you made it. Of course. Yes. I will," she said, and then the line clicked back open and the pilots' voices started reporting in.

“Snap, you doing alright?” Finn checked on the acting Commander.

“Yeah, yeah,” was all they got out of him: a breathy, light-headed sound that didn’t sound at all alright.

It was almost better not knowing, Rey decided. Not knowing how many they had lost. Deeks' astromech responded, though Deeks was either unconscious or too paralyzed to respond, and they weren't sure how many actually successful landings they were going to have. Astromech droids couldn't actually fly starships—otherwise 'pilot' wouldn't be a viable profession—but if everyone stayed calm, probably no one would die.

Rey knew those were the odds. Probably no one would die. After _so many_ had died.

"Where _is_ Poe?" Rey demanded quietly of Finn, seeming all the angrier because she was gritting her teeth past the pain. "When we land, I'm getting in the Falcon and going back for him. Maybe he couldn't get his hyperdrive fixed and he's still out there!"

But there really wasn't time to talk about that, not now, because they were already above the base on Nkllon.

The base wasn’t answering any hails.

"Give the fighters a wide berth," Rey instructed. "Don't we have tractor beams?"

If they had been on D'Qar still, they could have put them down in the lakes nearby, but here there was only unforgiving, harsh sand and sun that would kill them all if they couldn't get evacuation to them fast enough.

It was like watching stars fall.

Most of red squadron and the more experienced pilots made it, because even blind, they knew their birds. The tougher ships of gold and green survived the landing, though a few of the crashes looked bad. Blue squadron, a mix of rookies and vets, was getting decimated. An A-wing clipped a corner of the base, spun out, and exploded, though Rey saw something eject—either pilot or astromech, not both. Another far overshot the base and landed a few kliks out—maybe too far for rescue to get them in time, since _everyone_ needed rescue.

And everything was too slow. They were watching pilots fall and die as if in slow-motion. Chewie and Nunb put their transports down slowly, tentatively. Medics were slow to rush out—a trickle, like they were hiding from something...

Finn met the first of the medics at the base of the transport ramp.

"What the hell is going on here? We need medics and S&R on those pilots!" 

"Major, I need to speak with you," one of them—Finn couldn't remember his name—said, and took him off to one side. Other medics started helping the worst of the wounded out and towards base, but they were looking over their shoulders.

"There's been a coup.”

“A _what_?!”

“Inside job. That’s how they knew we were coming. It was Brance—He has the General," the medic told Finn.

Finn went cold, which was actually kind of an improvement, because everything was suddenly much clearer. "I'll deal with it. We need S&R sent out to get every pilot—they've all been blinded. And I need one medic with each transport."

He called Sevens over. "Tell Nien Nunb I’m puttiing him in charge of S&R. We need to get our fighter pilots, and we need to start an evacuation.”

Sevens nodded, and conversed with the medics to split forces. Next, Finn went back up front to ask Chewie to help find pilots. Rey was still in the co-pilot's seat. "Want to lean on me, or will you let me carry you?"

"What the kriff are you worried about me for?!" Rey snapped. "Go get the fucking General and protect her!"

_How is he so calm? Who hears 'there's been a coup' and starts giving orders calmly like his fiancé and half his friends weren't dead or in danger?!_

"GO!" she told him, and shoved him. "I'll make my way."

Finn winced when Rey snarled at him, but he wasn't going to fight with her right now, and he spoke with a forced calm he was beginning to lose. "We're both going in the same way. I am going to take you to medical and then take care of Brance and get the General. I'm not just going to walk in the front door. Also you need to get off this transport so it can go rescue pilots.”

Jess was out there, and Deeks and Snap and Karé. He didn't think he could bear losing them, and Poe would never forgive him.

Rey snarled, all the more because Finn was right. "I'm not going to medical! I'm going to my ship and I'm going to—"

Why was he so selfless? So _logical_? How? It was infuriating.

"I—" she faltered, negotiating. "I'll get off the ship. You need to go _now,_  Finn."

" _Fine_ ," Finn said, and planted a kiss on Rey's brow. "I'll be back." 

He set off into the base at a jog, his blaster already in his hand.

"We're with you, sir," said Coni, and Finn glanced around him to see he had been followed by her and a few other soldiers who weren't hurt—or not badly hurt—or were only _hurt_ as much as everyone was. Timons appeared, out of nowhere, with a blaster, and stood beside Finn.

"It's Brance. He's...insane," she said. “As soon as the _Vapor_ landed he took the commanders hostage…”

"He killed the guards stationed in the Command Center," Teena, the comms tech, said, "and he's got Statura, Ematt, and the General inside, along with Connix and some other aides."

“Where’s Ackbar?”

“Dead. Brance killed him first.”

Finn really had to stop asking that question.

"I think he's only got two others on his side," Timons informed him. "He thinks the Republic should negotiate with the Order. He's scared. Dangerous-scared," she added, to clarify: not the kind of scared that should be pitied.

...

"...We're going to give ourselves up and they'll be merciful," Brance was saying when Finn and his backup reached the door to the Conn. Brance was training a weapon on the three commanders while he sent a communication, and, yes, Finn counted two more beside him, training weapons on the unarmed commanders.

"There. They know where we are now! There's only one thing we can do and that’s surrender! Hear their demands!"

Finn looked over at Timons as they all crouched outside the locked door and listened to Brance rant. He really did sound insane, as Leia tried to reason with him—and now that he had given away their location to the First Order, it meant they had to end this fast and evacuate in earnest, or else they would _all_ be captured and this all would have been for nothing.

"Okay, how are we going to get in?" Finn asked, when something bumped him around hip-level.

[Useless organics. Move aside] beeped an annoyed binary voice, and R2-D2 trundled right up to the door and jammed a lock-picking mechanism into the panel.

"R2, this is most—ah, I am very sorry for this interruption—R2, this will not bring Master Lu—"

[Say it and I'll shut you off] R2 snarled, insofar as a droid could snarl.

C-3PO stopped talking, and the lock turned green.

[Get in there and distract them] he told C-3PO.

"But R2, how should I—oh dear," the droid said, but the door whooshed open just enough to admit him without revealing Finn's group, and 3PO had no choice.

"Don't shoot, don't shoot! We surrender. Oh dear, oh dear. Major Finn, yes, he sent me in to negotiate terms..." 

Brance faltered, gave a manic smile of relief, and 3PO was in.

As 3PO's voice moved away from the door, Brance and the other two tracked him, allowing R2 to re-open it very slowly and quietly while he accessed the cameras in the room to tell them when everyone had their backs turned.

So they slipped into the room without being noticed, and Finn signaled to Coni and Timons that he had Brance. The two women nodded, then turned to each other and motioned toward the lackeys—one each. Coni and Timons brought their blasters up, and once Finn was sure they had the other two covered, he brought his own blaster to bear on Brance. He wasn't in the mood for mercy, not now, and at this range a headshot would be terribly easy. He took a deep breath, steadied his aim, and watched Statura until the man had seen him—the merest flicker of a blink acknowledging Finn's presence.

Brance had his blaster pointed at Statura—Ematt lay nearby, not moving, a blaster wound in the center of his chest. The General sat next to him, and Connix sat on her other side. Finn held up three fingers, and Statura shifted as if uncomfortable. Two, 3PO paused in his chatter and Leia added something that Finn, in his focus, didn't catch. One, inhale, deep breath, finger on trigger—

"BRANCE!" he barked, and the room erupted. Brance's reflexes were quicker than Finn thought, though, because Finn's shot went wild as Brance dodged and fired on Statura, who, already off balance, threw himself to the side so that instead of a shot through the heart, he was hit in the shoulder.

The lackeys dropped from one shot each—Finn blessed Coni and Timons for their aim as Brance wheeled around and pointed his blaster at Finn's chest. Coni and Timons shifted in Finn's peripheral vision, and he realized they were also now targeting Brance.

"Give me a reason I shouldn't shoot you," Finn snarled, hoping to bait Brance into giving him an opening. If he'd drop the aim of that blaster just a few inches, Finn could safely assume any shot he got off would be non-lethal, and that was a bet he was more than willing to take...

"Major! You don't understand, the Republic has already lost—the First Order has Senators, they're poised to take over. This is the only way," Brance said, and whatever his many other issues, his aim didn't waver so much as a hair.

And very suddenly, Finn was tired of this—this kriffing bantha shit, and they'd been _so close_ and Brance had  _ruined_ everything, was trying to sell them out—they were going to have to move again, there were a bunch of blind pilots that needed help, Ematt was unconscious or dead, Poe would be even longer catching up, _he couldn't do this_ —and he growled, more than ready to shoot Brance in the head, if the man would stop moving so much.

"It's all _your_ fault!" Brance cried shrilly, clearly panicked. "The Order didn't plan for you! Or—her!"

He jabbed his weapon in Timons' direction, and then back at Finn. "Any of you! But it doesn't matter! You can't stop a war machine like theirs! Why can't you see—"

The General stood up from where she had knelt over Statura. "Brance," she said, not referring to him by his rank. "If you want to go, go. No one's making you stay here."

"I'm not a traitor! I'm not like _him_!" Brance snarled, and went very still, his blaster trained steadily on Finn, and in that split second of stillness, they all realized what he was about to do—and were all too slow to stop it.

Three shots rang out at once, but none of them were Finn’s: Coni and Timons each put a bolt in Brance's head, but Finn had registered movement in the corner of his eye, causing him to hesitate.

The last bolt was meant for him, but Finn was not the one who ended up on the ground.

"GENERAL!"

In the chaos following the shots, everyone leapt for the General, but it was Finn who reached her first, _because she had thrown herself in between him and Brance, absorbing the blaster bolt meant for him_ , and he was well into panic by then.

"General, no, come on, don't do this," he begged, turning her over and looking for a wound. She grimaced and opened her eyes to glare at Finn, who could have cried with relief (and maybe he did, but who could blame him).

"Major, get it together. We need to evacuate immediately, and I need—" she paused as Connix pulled her coat away from the blaster wound in her abdomen.

"Sorry, General," the woman muttered.

"Finn, I need you to lead the evacuation," Leia continued, "And Con—Connix—" she trailed off, then blinked hard and refocused, "Get Kalonia."

Leia let out a shuddering breath and Finn felt her tense as Connix ran off at a sprint.

"Son of a Hutt, that hurts," she gasped, and Finn squeezed her arm in reassurance.

“General…”

Leia smiled gently. “He was right. This is—all your fault. It’s your fault we’re _still here._ ”

Finn nearly burst into tears, holding her. “General. I can’t do this—I’m not—”

“You are. You’re like me, Finn. You can lose everything and still keep fighting. I need you to keep fighting. Even if—” she grimaced again.

_Why did this sound like a goodbye?_

“But you’re gonna be okay,” Finn assured her, or himself.

She nodded, but didn’t answer. “Now go on.”

Finn left her in the charge of her aides and stood up, taking Coni and Timons for assistance. On his way out, he heard R2 hooting softly at Leia, oddly sweet for the grouchy old droid:

[You are badly injured] the droid said.

"Yeah. Harter will be here soon," Leia reassured the droid.

[Dr. Kalonia is good, for an organic.]

Finn smiled. The droid _did_ have a soft spot.

"Oh my! Oh my! Mistress Leia!" In stark contrast to R2, 3PO was, of course, panicking, and here R2 was surprisingly useful in calming down his counterpart as the droids followed the entourage getting the General, Statura, and Ematt to medical—though Finn was pretty sure the Major, his direct superior, was dead.

Finn quite suddenly found himself in command of the Resistance.  


	15. Chapter 15

Rey refused more medics as soon as she was off the transport, and since there were plenty of people who needed attention, it was easy for the medic to decide triage preference went to people who actually _wanted_ help. Rey, finally left to get own devices, hauled herself over to a metal pipe that looked as if it might make a serviceable crutch. She was halfway to the _Falcon_ , determined to go back to Dantooine, damn them all, when Red Leader came careening into the hangar.

"Karé!" Rey shouted as the X-wing skidded gracelessly across the hanger, leaving a deep trench and snapping the ventral S-foils off. There were no other personnel around, which meant no one had been caught in the crash, but the X-Wing was smoking dangerously, and no one was helping her.

Working alone was what Rey did best. Grunting, and wishing she hadn't been _quite_ so rude to the medic as to make him run off, Rey staggered towards her.

"Karé? Captain Kun? Karé, hang on, I'm gonna get you out of there!"

Of course the starfighter was soundproof with the canopy down, and Rey didn't have a comlink set to her frequency, so she had to climb.

Karé couldn't see, she couldn't hear anything outside her own ship, but she could smell smoke, and after that landing, something was probably on fire. She tapped her comm to make sure it was on.

"Black Leader, come in. Red-Two, answer me. Poe? Iolo? Come on, one of you—both of you. Gods dammit, answer your kriffing comms!" she yelled, tears streaming down her face as she realized there was something wrong. She heard the release of the seal on her canopy.

"Karé?" Rey's familiar voice asked, and then familiar hands were unbuckling Karé's flight harness and dragging her out of the cockpit. Karé went willingly, because she couldn't see—and she couldn't find Iolo, and she couldn't find Poe, and then they were on the ground and Rey was leading her away, slowly, like she was limping, too.

When they stopped moving, Karé promptly collapsed. "I can't find them, they were—did they beat me here? They were behind me. Where are they? Something happened."

The hardened starfighter pilot burst into tears, because there was no reason they shouldn't be here already.

"They're not here yet," Rey said firmly. "But I—we’re going to send someone back for them. I'll go back. It'll be all right," she insisted. “Karé, _get up_. We're going to get your eyes checked."

Rey blinked when she rounded the corner. There was an actual triage _line_ , people standing or lying in brave suffering with their laughably few medics and doctors moving down the line. "Oh, kriff," she said.

"What? What is it?" Karé asked, and Rey helped her sit down where Snap and Jess were comforting each other. "Who all's here? Rey, what’s going on?"

"All Wings report in," Snap gave a tired command, and Rey fought back a tearful smile as the blind pilots responded to each other so everyone would know who was here.

"Uh, we don't have fancy callsigns, but B company's here, too," said a cheeky soldier. “If anyone cares.”

One by one, all the companies reported in as well, with numbers if not names. One of the rescue transports returned and the medics and mobile soldiers started helping more pilots to the triage line.

Rey was about to take her chance to nonchalantly go steal the _Falcon_ to return for Poe and Iolo and Luke _and carve Kylo Ren’s heart out_ when Dr. Lan reached them. She looked up at Rey and then pointedly at her leg and her improvised crutch.

"I'm moving you up," the Ewok stated.

"I have to go," Rey told her shortly, and turned to do just that, but found she couldn't tug her crutch out of the small, furry hand that gripped it like a vice. "Dr. Lan, with all due respect, there are people who actually want and need your help, and I need to go find Poe and Luke and Iolo." 

"You're not going anywhere like that, and if you try, I will sedate you. Or knock you out, whichever you prefer," the doctor scolded, her voice leaving absolutely no room for debate. "You will wait here if you are so determined to remain standing, and then I will take you up there," she added, nodding toward the head of the line. Then she turned and started examining Karé, pronouncing after several minutes that while her eyes were in the same condition as the other pilots, she was otherwise fairly uninjured and could stay with Snap and Jess.

"You pulled me out of my bird on an injured leg?" Karé said, reaching for Rey's hand and squeezing it. "You—uh, thanks."

"Don't you know, Karé? Jedi don't feel pain," Snap said, with a completely straight face.

Rey was glad the pilots couldn't see how much her smile resembled a grimace. _If only that were true._

Dr. Kalonia wasn't happy with Rey's insistence upon flying the _Falcon_ , but she also recognized that trying to prevent her from doing so was a battle she didn't have time or energy to fight. Instead, she had insisted that Rey at least let her see to her leg. She cleaned it, and warned Rey that she was risking permanent damage to the muscles if she didn't rest it, but the young woman had only given her a haunted look and Kalonia had pressed bacta bandages to the wound and given Rey very firm instructions that if she was not in medical as soon as they landed, Kalonia was going to send Dr. Lan and a powerful sedative to fetch her.

By then Rey head been trembling and anxious to get up, get out, to do anything to stop her thinking too hard. Kalonia had patted her gently on the shoulder, handed her a painkiller that wouldn't make her sleepy, and got her real crutches instead of the pipe she'd head been using. Then she sent her on her way and went to tend her other patients.

....

Finn went immediately back to the hangar and got on a PA system. "I need everyone's attention!" he called, and waited for everything in the hangar to quiet down.

"We're going to have to evacuate the base—Brance gave the First Order our location. The General is safe, as is Statura, and they're getting medical attention. Right now, I need anyone with flying experience to report to me in the hangar. Anyone helping the medical staff, continue reporting to Dr. Lan and Dr. Kalonia for instructions, but we begin evac now," he said, and waited as his soldiers straggled forward. There were not many.

It allowed him to spot Rey skulking around by the _Falcon_. She had clearly been seen by a medic, because her leg was bandaged, but he didn't think any medic would have let her go with only one crutch and a look of fierce determination. Surely she was in pain... But she appeared not to feel it, limping more as if the leg were an inconvenience than a discomfort. He left Coni temporarily in charge and went after her.

"Rey, no. Rey. Not an option," he said, aggrieved.

Rey folded her arms.

"I'm piloting the _Falcon_ ," she insisted, though she wasn't sure why she was being so cantankerous and making everything harder for Finn. Then she sighed. "Please? I can't just—sit by. Not when..."

Her tough façade slipped, her eyes welling with tears. "Not when everything's gone so wrong. Please don't try to stop me, Finn. I hate arguing with you."

"Sir! We have an incoming transport!" Connix's voice came over Finn's comlink, sounding urgent, and then confused: "It's—uhh—not First Order?"

A voice Finn had never heard before broke in on all channels. The voice was smooth and warm—overly-friendly, by Rey's estimation. "This is the _Lady Luck_ , hailing Resistance HQ. I'd like to speak with Princess-General Leia Organa-Solo, and was wondering if you'd be so kind as to drop your energy shields so I can land and offer my services."

Finn frowned, both alarmed and confused. "Patch me in, Connix. _Lady Luck_ , you'll understand our hesitation—who are you, exactly?"  

They didn't have time for this. And Rey was about to start crying, and if she started crying he wasn't going to be okay, either. Finn had thought he could do this. Now he wasn't so sure. How had everything gone so incredibly wrong so incredibly fast?

"Of course, how hostile of me. My name is Lando Calrissian, I'm an old friend of Leia's, and—"

They were cut off by a squeak from Connix. "Sir, his ident checks out. That's _the_ Lando Calrissian."

" _General_ Calrissian, if we're going to bandy titles about," he said, sounding like he was trying to seem embarrassed only to be polite. "But it looks like you and your people don't have time for that, so how about you let me touch down first, huh?"

"Fine—Connix?" Finn said, and the shield flickered off to allow Calrissian to land. "Do us a favor and leave space for the second transport to land as close as possible to the hangar," he added. It should be back any minute, now, given that the first transport had already arrived.

"Acknowledged. My people have weapons, but I would be glad to have them leave them on the ship. We are here to assist in whatever capacity," Calrissian reported, and his ship—more of a modified yacht than a transport—landed almost daintily, making everything else on the tarmac look a hundred years older.

The man who emerged was older—about Han's age—with dark skin and hair that might once have been black but was now nearly white. Although he was thick around the middle, his moustache was positively dashing, and he was wearing a very fine _cape_. He smiled warmly and opened his arms.

"Hello, hello, you must be Finn. And Rey! I've heard so much about you," he said. "Where's Leia?"

"She's in medical," Finn answered, and then added a belated, "Sir," not sure if this newcomer technically outranked him in the Resistance, as a General. He wasn't sure he cared, since they had a base to evacuate and very little time in which to do it.

Calrissian's face fell. "Is she alright?" he asked, but then shook his head, deciding not to press as these children began to look lost. "All right, look, never mind, I'll see her later."

"If you want to help, we could use pilots for the transports and someone to rescue any remaining pilots who crashed—do you have a long-range signal scanner?" Finn asked, and added, for Rey's sake— "And the _Falcon_ could use a co-pilot, because Chewie is in one of the transports."

He gripped Finn's shoulder. "Command my people as your own, Major. Many of us are pilots, and _Lady Luck_ can carry a total of fifty beings and 30 metric tons. How much time do we have?"

"Not a lot," Rey said, and Finn and Rey together quickly caught him up to speed. His face was grave, but when he spoke, he seemed optimistic. It reminded Rey a lot of Poe, and her heart twinged again.

"You know, the _Falcon_ once belonged to me," Calrissian said to Rey, who clenched her fists.

"It belongs to Chewbacca, and he's loaned it to m—"

Calrissian held up his hands and laughed. "My dear, I don't want her _back_. I only thought you might like a semi-competent copilot. You know, I blew up the Second Death Star, with Captain Antilles and—Wedge, get over here and meet these kids! Never mind, go see how many of these X-wings we can get flying again! And Nien Nunb! Where is that old rascal? I heard he joined up with you? Never mind, I'll see him. Okay, you got any speeders? I saw a distress signal from over the next dune. I assume one of yours?"

"Yeah, any signals are ours. We'll load injured onto your ship and the _Falcon_ ," he said. "Speeders are over there." He pointed out several of them, lined up along the wall of the hangar.

As soon as Lando and two of his company had left, they started moving injured personnel to the _Falcon_ and the _Lady Luck_ , and Lando's crew worked on getting the least damaged fighters working again. The second transport returned, luckily with very few seriously injured pilots.

Lando sent two of his staff off to check the wreckage of a closer ship while he went off in the direction of a smoking A-wing by speeder. He'd heard Shara Bey's son was in the Resistance, and maybe this was him?

But the boy inside the cockpit couldn't have been a day over eighteen, and was probably closer to sixteen or seventeen. _We let teenagers fly now?_

"Hey, son," Lando said as he pried the canopy back. There weren't any obvious injuries visible beyond a few minor cuts, though there were enough dents in the cockpit that he didn't want to rule out broken limbs. The hundred-klik stare made the kid look like a ghost.

"Hey, son. My name is Lando Calrissian, our friend Finn sent me to get you. Can you tell me if anything hurts?"

There was a silence. The kid didn't even look up. If Lando had been younger and if he was sure they had no possible spinal injuries to worry about, he would have yanked the kid out and dragged him back to base for them to worry about. "You got a name, son?"

Deeks couldn't see anything. Not dim shapes, not even light or dark, just—nothing. And his head hurt, and his ears were sort of ringing, and he was dizzy. None of this would have bothered him so bad if only he could _see_.

He certainly didn't expect a voice, let alone one he didn't recognize, and he flinched. But the voice said they were a friend of Finn's.

"Deeks," he said answered softly, "I can't see."

 _What good was a pilot who couldn't see to fly?_ Even though he knew he wasn’t in the First Order, anymore, he still couldn’t shake the fear that they might get rid of him if he wasn’t useful.

"I can't see. Help?" he asked, and hated having to do it. What was he supposed to do if he couldn't see? 

"I should hope so, you'll need a good excuse for crashing all the way out here in the boonies, son," Lando said, trying to lighten the mood and giving the kid's shoulder a careful squeeze. Unclipping his safety harness and patting him down for signs of serious injury, he asked, "Do I need to get a medic out here for you?"  

The kid didn’t answer, so Lando kept going. "You know I had my left eye replaced. Cataracts or some old people shit. I know a very good doctor who can do eye replacement surgery. You could try blue eyes if you wanted."

Deeks moved his toes and fingers, and tensed and relaxed muscles up and down all his limbs. Nothing screamed at him until he moved his head, which made him even dizzier and _hurt_. He curled his fingers hard against his legs until it stopped and then tried again, more gently—it didn't hurt as bad. Probably it wasn't his spine, then, but whiplash.

"Nothing broken," he told this voice, that of someone apparently old enough to get cataracts. He sounded nice. Since the man had said he was out in the boonies, he asked. "How far?"

He just wanted to get back to the people he knew, even if they weren't all there, to reassure himself that they weren't all gone.

"Uhh, far enough to need a speeder," Lando went on with a laugh, trying to get a reaction out of this kid. "Here, let's get you out of there nice and easy. Can you take my hands? You're gonna do the moving, I'm just gonna guide you, all right?"

Lando kept his voice steady and pleasant. "We've got this."

Deeks sighed deeply. "Jess will never let me live this down," he said as he let the man guide him out of the cockpit. He caught his foot as he tried to step over the edge of it and grabbed at the steadying hands. "Sorry, I'm sorry, there's—I can't _see_ . Gods dammit I was already bad at dancing and now I can't do _anything_!"

Lando laughed again. "Easy, son, I got you. You're gonna be okay. Who's Jess? She your girlfriend? One step at a time, now, let me help you."

Lando eased himself almost entirely into the cockpit and wrapped his arms around the boy, finding him even slighter than he first guessed. "Lift your foot, I'll grab it and make sure you get all the way."

"No, she's a pilot. And she already has a—" he paused, because Sevens wasn't a boyfriend or a girlfriend and Deeks couldn't remember what Jess called them and it was hurting his head to even try. "She has a Sevens. She taught me to fly, though. And about the Resistance."

Deeks paused and waited for the world to stop spinning. "I don't have a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. Or a Sevens."

Once the dizziness had subsided somewhat, he let his rescuer guide his foot out of the cockpit. "But I like Kaydel Ko Connix.”

"There we go, foot right there," Lando praised, helping move the boy down the ladder. "Who's this Kaydel Ko Connix when they're at home? What's to like about them?" he said, glad to hear the kid talking. He seemed to be having trouble breathing and moving his core, so he held the kid very carefully under the arms and at the back.

"She kind of runs the command center. She's a Lieutenant," Deeks answered. "She's really pretty, and she's clever—probably smarter than me." He chuckled, but that hurt his ribs and he would have doubled over, except there was a ladder right in front of him and since he couldn't see it, he was pretty sure he'd only slam his face into it. He caught his breath and froze. "Sorry—ribs."

He let his breath out slowly before continuing down the ladder.

"Ribs. Good to know. She sounds like a nice girl. You always want a girl who's smarter than you," Lando said. "Especially when you're—uhh, how old are you, son?"

They had reached the bottom of the ladder, and Lando sat Deeks on his speeder in front of him, guiding his hands to the bars. "Old enough to hold onto that?"

"They let me pilot a starfighter," Deeks replied, perking up a bit defensively.

"Yeah, and look what you did to it," Lando said, and his laugh was warm.

"Landed it blind, you mean?" Deeks asked, joking to distract from the white-knuckle death grip he'd taken on the bar where his hands rested. "I don't know exactly how old I am. Seventeen or eighteen? I was on my first mission when Finn threw me out of my AT-AA and I decided I'd rather be on his team."

Deeks shrugged one shoulder. "They call me 'kid' but I think it's because I tell them not to. Especially Commander Dameron," he added. Tova and Nova were the next oldest— _had been_ , Deeks corrected—but by at least a few years. And now he was the youngest by even more than that. His heart ached.

"Well don't you worry, I can tell you one or two embarrassing stories about Commander Dameron when he was a young idiot. It's only fair." Lando looped an arm loosely about the kid. "Ready to get back and let someone check those ribs out? I think your friends are worried about you..."

...

Rey oversaw the loading of the _Falcon_ , watching as the wounded and as many medical supplies as possible were brought on and taken to the cargo bay.

When she'd first hobbled in, she could have cried—in all the chaos and tragedy, here sat her garden, all unassuming, the plants doing what they always did—growing, and living. The first of the wounded were brought in, the medical staff picking carefully around the plants.

"Stop worrying about those," Rey said, and when they looked at her in surprise, she shook her head sadly. "We don't have time. It's okay.”

No one moved, though, so she stalked in and shoved them to the side, with more anger than she admitted to be holding onto, knocking a few pots over. “Make the room. Don’t worry about them.”

They managed to get three damaged but salvageable X-Wings loaded into the cargo bay, at the cost of most of her garden, squished in among medical supplies. Weapons and more wounded were being spread out among the other transports.

"Be careful with those!" Rey snapped at one of Calrissian's men carrying an armful of blasters with no regard for muzzle safety.

"Rey!" Connix hissed, stepping up behind her and taking her arm. "First of all, that was _Wedge Antilles_! You can't shout at him! Also, you should be in the cockpit. I have it on good authority you were only released with the order to stay off your leg."

But the sound of an approaching speeder caught their attention, and Connix left Rey alone to cry out—

"Deeks! General Calrissian, thank you—Deeks, are you alright?" she asked, rushing to them.

"We need to get him checked out. Broken ribs, probably," Lando said. “And—may I ask why your pilots are blind and unable to legally drink?”

"He's legal," Connix snapped. "And the First Order used some kind of ray beam. We're analyzing the beam and adjusting our shields accordingly."

 _That_ was a voice Deeks knew, and he could have cried he was so glad to hear it, even letting Calrissian’s comments go ignored. He reached out a hand and smiled gratefully when Connix took it. "Are you okay? And Finn and the Commander and—"

"Shh, later. We had a bit of a problem, and we're evacuating base. I'm going to take you straight to one of the medical transports, okay?" she said. Deeks looked uncertain, like he wanted to argue, but then he squared his shoulders (sort of) and nodded. Lando helped him off the speeder and stayed nearby, and Connix took his arm to help him balance when he swayed alarmingly.

"I'm going to put you on the _Falcon_ with Rey and Finn—we'll find you a place to lay down," she continued said as they started up the ramp, leaving Rey and Lando alone.

"So that must be Connix," Lando asked Rey as the pair moved off together. Then, with a slight bow, he offered Rey his arm.

It was a very Poe Dameron move, with a smoother and perhaps more conniving affect to it than Poe's playfulness, but it jarred her into remembering where she needed to be which was _out looking for him_.

"It is..." she said, pursing her lips.

"I think it would be best for me and you, Ms. Rey, if you took my arm. I've heard multiple times that you need to be on that transport. At any time we could need to start evacuating in earnest, and you won't do the Resistance any good with one leg." He sounded firm, almost stern. Now he reminded her of Han.

"I could get a prosthetic," she said defiantly. But she took his arm.

Ahead of them, Deeks was leaning heavily on Connix. "Th-thanks, I—Kaydel, are _you_ okay?"

"I'm okay, Deeks, truly. No injuries at all," Connix answered. "Finn is also okay. Rey has a serious leg wound but Kalonia did as much as Rey would let her do. Sevens, Snap, and Jess all made it back with only minor injuries."

She felt him relax, even if it was only slightly, at this news. He didn't ask who was missing, and she didn't volunteer the information. "Finn is heading up the evacuation, but I imagine you'll see him later—we're here."

The cargo bay had long since filled, and they were putting people in the unused crew quarters, as well as the galley and even the common area, where the holotable had been pushed to a corner so the bench around it could be commandeered by exhausted pilots. There were still some empty cots here, and Connix took Deeks to one.

"The bed is right behind you," she said gently from where she stood in front of him still holding one of his hands. He was still swaying as if dizzy, and the last thing she wanted him to do was fall.

"O-okay," Deeks said, letting her lower him to the cot. "I'm sorry I can't h-help." He licked his lips. "Will you—come back? When we're underway, I mean. I don't want to keep you from—especially since I can't—"

"Deeks," Connix sighed, and leaned in to kiss his brow. "Relax. I will be right back, all right?"

Deeks gasped in surprise at the kiss, which made him wince.

"And if that's how you react, I'm not kissing you again," she teased, standing up.

Deeks turned his head in her direction. "I'll, uh, do better next time?"

Connix laughed. "I'm sure you will."

...

What Finn wanted to do was crawl into a corner and pause time long enough to have a panic attack in peace.

What he had to do, instead, was coordinate the evacuation of hundreds of personnel, critical equipment, and as many starships as they could manage.

As many as they had  _left_ , with whatever pilots they had left. 

Some of the starships were flyable, and would be taken by some of Lando's crew and Finn's best flyers. The _Vapor_ had its backup pilots, which wasn't ideal, but here Timons saved the day. She and Sevens would help fly the _Vapor_ , freeing up two more pilots for two more cargo transports—they would be able to take the command center, with the General's and Connix's attached quarters, as well as medical, without having to completely take them apart so the most important of the contents could go on a ship with an experienced pilot.

Staff quarters were staying, and most everything in them—a few people went back for a few things, but they didn't have time to empty all of them. Finn certainly didn't have time. He would mourn the beautiful instruments left behind in Poe's room later, though they'd all three kept their lockets with them, and he _thought_ he remembered Poe bringing his quetarra onto the _Falcon_ to sing Sammy lullabies.

But then again, it was hard to mourn Poe's quetarra when he was still worried he might be having to mourn _Poe_.

They were mostly ready, with medical and the command center already in the and away to their rendezvous on Takodana, with the _Lady Luck_ flying a vanguard position, when a fleet of First Order ships lit up every working sensor on base.

Finn ran to the nearest PA, already shaky and panicky.

"All personnel. New orders. Proceed _immediately_ to your evacuation ship. Take off as soon as all are accounted for and make for the rendezvous. First Order forces are on their way, coming in mark two-niner," he said, and then ran for the _Falcon_ , standing at the foot of the ramp until all other ships were in the air or already gone. He took one last look at their deserted base and then ran up the ramp and got on the comm.

"Take us outta here, I'm going to go man a gun," he said, and went to the central turret.

"Connix, I need a copilot!" Rey called, but the person who joined her was none other than Lando Calrissian himself, sliding into the seat with an aged " _Oof_!"

"Looks like you made some changes to the old girl," he said, as conversationally as though they weren't flying for their lives.

"Shields," she reminded him.

"My dear, the last of my friends from the Rebellion is lying injured on this ship, I think I know to put the shields up. Did they say what happened to Leia?"

Rey shook her head, having not had time to get that full story from anyone. "She got shot by one of the traitors, but beyond that, you know as much as I do. Kalonia said it isn't life-threatening, though she might have just said that."

Rey flipped the _Falcon_ in a barrel roll to shake some pursuers. She saw the bright spots of light that were the _Falcon's_ cannons firing into a swarm of TIEs. Boy, it would be nice to have some starfighter pilot backup. She flipped the comms so she could reach the gun that Finn was currently manning. "Alright, Finn?"

There were the brief sounds of him firing at another pursuer.

"Sure, just enjoying watching these bastards crash and burn," he responded, the sentiment unusually bloody-minded for him.

"We'll make the jump as soon as we clear atmo. Any casualties?" Rey asked.

"Not on our side. Calrissian’s crew are completely mad, but none of the First Order pilots was expecting a little yacht to be that heavily armed, or that fast." Rey smiled and looked over at Lando, who was grinning smugly.

"I'll tell them you said that and they'll each buy you a round," Lando laughed, amused by these children who were _so serious_. "Okay, we are ready for that jump—compressor is...uhh..."

"I've bypassed the compressor," Rey said, and leaned over Lando's station.

"And we're not going to Takodana, not yet," she said—and belatedly turned the comlink to Finn off. _Oops_. "We're going back to Dantooine."

"Dantoo—but I thought you guys just got massacred out there!" Lando cried, but one look from Rey had him raising his hands. "All right, all right! You think you still have people down there?"

"We owe it to them to check," Rey said.

Lando stared at her carefully. "All right. I'll program it in. You, uh, just make sure your Acting General boyfriend won’t have my moustache for this..."

Finn, meanwhile, yelled, "We're not—Rey? Where are we going? Rey! Gods dammit, Rey!" but the comm was off. He growled in fury for a second before abandoning his gun and stalked through the _Falcon_ to the cockpit.

"Did it ever occur to you that I was going to send someone as soon as we touched down? There are people on this ship who need medical attention," he asked her, but he also couldn't say that he didn't _want_ to go back for Poe and Luke and all the others. Here, his heart and his responsibilities were completely at odds.

"I...am very angry with you," he told her, with a small snarl, and then bent down to kiss her cheek.

"...You got a funny way of showing that, son." Lando said. He had been expecting fury at countermanded orders and instead witnessed—well, _Finn_.

Leia had made an excellent choice.

They were already in hyperspace, so the decision was mostly made, but: "Uh, we _can_ recalibrate," he offered gently. I'm sure that medical emergencies take precedent over--"

He looked between the children.

Rey almost faltered.

"Finn— _please_ ," she begged, clearly near tears or a breakdown of some kind, but determined not to break. A 'sorry' hovered at the edge of her thought, but she wasn't sorry, except for the sorry everything went to shit that they all were feeling. "I didn't feel him die but I—I have to know."

Finn wasn't sure which 'him' she was talking about.

He took a deep breath and then sighed. They could be in and out before anyone noticed, probably, especially in the _Falcon_. And by the time they'd left base, three of the Star Destroyers had been over Nkllon, which meant there would be very few ships left on Dantooine.

And if they were trying only to get in and get out, rather than fight, it would be easier. They needed to know if anyone was left at Dantooine—if Poe, Iolo, or Luke needed rescuing. Or any other pilots, or ground troops that hadn't been rounded up yet. And it felt...right. Something about it felt right. Hoping that was the Force talking and not his own longing, he said, "Alright. But we make it quick, no hanging around and waiting. You'll know if they're there, right?"

Rey nodded, and swallowed. She felt it, too, the need to go back that was in the Force—beyond her _furious_ need to go back as a student, as a lover, as a friend—and she surged forward to wrap her arms around Finn's middle in a tight hug. _Thank you. I love you_.

Lando, feeling like he was interrupting something, turned back to the nav computer, pre-programming a jump from Dantooine to Takodana so they would be ready to go.

"I'll, uh—" he said, when the hug lasted longer than that. "I'll go make sure our tractor beams are working..." he said, and excused himself from the cockpit.

For just a split second, Finn felt bad for running Lando out of the cockpit, but this was something he needed, and he crouched so he was on Rey's level and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. They were both so close to not holding it together, but this at least was some small comfort. Finn pulled back just far enough to rest his forehead against hers.

_Whatever happens, whatever we find, stay with me. I need you._

That might have been the most difficult promise she could make, but Rey nodded, her eyes brimming with tears, and finally, _finally_ , one tracked down her cheek. No running off, no flying off the handle, no doing anything _. Not even if her worst fears were confirmed and they were all dead and Kylo stood over them _gloating_._

 

"I know," she said, and leaned her bad leg out of the way before pulling Finn into a feather-soft kiss.

Finn always came back for her. The least she could do was not leave him.

Finn would ordinarily have melted at such a soft, sweet kiss, and it did give his heart some fleeting happiness. He returned it in kind, putting into it all the words he couldn't say _(I'm here, I won't go anywhere, we belong to each other and to Poe, wherever we are, and whenever you need me, I'll be right here. I love you. We'll face this together_ ) for fear of losing his voice and his carefully maintained control. He never wanted to leave Rey's arms, but she needed to fly and he needed to keep them safe—so he'd have to go back to his gun.

"Tractor beams are fully operational. Heading back there now," Lando's voice said over the comm, and Finn reluctantly pulled away from Rey after one last kiss. He gently wiped the tear off her cheek and gave her a small smile.

"I love you, sunshine," he told her, and turned to go back to the ventral cannon.

...

They dropped out of hyperspace in the middle of a debris field, which was probably the only reason they weren't immediately spotted and shot down—that, and the _Finalizer_ looked like it needed heavy repairs, her only consolation. Rey hadn't got a good look at the space battle when they were stuck in that transport—but now.

Now it looked like a graveyard.

"We should identify the dead," Lando said over the com to Finn, and to Rey. "See what you can pick out. Do we have anything like a manifest or an MIA list?"

Finn nodded: Connix had the full list of personnel who had yet to report. It had felt— _important_ that he look it over. He tapped his comm to broadcast ship-wide.

"Connix, please contact the cockpit," he said, and then got off their channel, switching to listen to shipwide activity. 

“Here’s the manifest. May I have scanners?” she asked quietly, and Finn took a deep breath as he heard Lando give her his seat. He listened even as Connix started rattling of names of those who had not returned. Her voice never wobbled, but when she finished, there was an audible sniff in the silence.

Iolo and Poe were on there, and so many others. But Rey had said she hadn't felt Poe _die,_  and he was holding her to that. They'd find him. They had to. He had to be here somewhere.

“Most of the pilots have custom paint jobs, if you see anything," Connix reminded them. "I can scan for tracking signatures and, ah—DNA…”

Finn winced at that.

“Gold-nine confirmed KIA,” she said. Finn knew that, he had listened to them die trying to protect them. “I’m getting...there’s a lot of flack in the way…” She listed a few others, but no one they didn’t already know was gone.  

Rey wasn't listening. She was listening to the Force. It had called her here. Something she needed to find, and it was _wasn't_ Kylo Ren and it wasn't Luke and it wasn't even Poe, she was sure, but—

"There!" she cried. "Finn, it's BB-8! Tractor beam them in, I'm sure that was BB-8! Three-mark-four-niner!"

Finn had jumped up from his seat and run to the hatch to meet BB-8 before he could even consider that he was leaving his gun unmanned.

BB-8. Just BB-8. The horrifying thought— _Where was Poe if BB-8 was floating in space?_ —was overrun by a more hopeful one: if they'd found BB-8, the droid could tell them where Poe was so they could rescue him!

Finn skidded to a stop by the loading bay doors, which were currently open and bathed in the light of the tractor beam. And in that pale glow, BB-8 hung suspended—at least, until they were in the ship and the beam cut off, dropping the little droid with a loud clang. "I have them! They look okay. I'm bringing them to you," he said, and heaved BB-8 into his arms.

BB-8's dome was retracted into their body, so Rey couldn't even see which way was up. Their silly little paintings all over the droid's body were scorched, and the droid was badly dented on one side—such that Rey feared they might need an entirely new chassis, whenever such a thing could be gotten.

 _If_ they could even...

"What's wrong with them?" she asked, because BB-8 didn't wake or do anything on their own, but sat there like a tiny asteroid. "Wait, there's a reset. A reset. Hang on." Her leg stuck out straight as she sat on the floor, she rolled BB-8 around in a circle until she found the small button, which needed a bit of wire to depress. At first it didn't work, but she held it down for a few more seconds, and then there was one soft beep—but nothing more.

Rey tried rolling the droid over a few more times, and now a small screen appeared on one panel: EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN. PASSCODE REQUIRED.

Finn was quiet. Passcode? How were they to know the passcode? He glanced over at Rey.

"Uh... Poe's name?" he looked at BB-8. "Phi Ioto Nu two-one-eight?"

The droid didn't move, and Finn frowned. "That’s Poe’s command passcode. Don’t ask. _Black One_? Yavin IV?"

Still nothing. He looked at Rey and shrugged helplessly.

Rey frowned, deep in thought. She played with her lip, smearing engine grease over her face. "Wasn't it—um—didn't Poe once tell us that BB-8 comes up with all their own passcodes? Maybe it's not Poe's mind we have to guess but BB-8's!"  

"Yeah, yeah, I think I remember him saying that," Finn said, dropping to his knees beside her.

"Okay, well, what does BB-8 like?"

"The color orange. Also pink?" Finn tried. "They like to watch holos with us sometimes."

"Yeah! What's the one with the droid protagonist, the really long one, with all the walking? And very unrealistic applications of the Force," she added. "He likes that one.

"Hey! When they have to speak a password to get into a cave, what's the word they speak?"

"It's Kaminoan for something. Friendship?"

"I think it's friend. Friend, BB-8?" Finn asked. He hoped the droid had used Basic, because he had no idea what 'friend' was in Kaminoan.

Something happened, anyway. The screen went blank as if BB-8 had shut off again, and Finn was about to start guessing other words when there was a small, sad little whir and BB-8's dome popped up a couple of inches. Finn crouched and put his hand gently on the droid's body. "Hey buddy, you're safe. We're so glad to see you," he told them, and there was another little whir and a few soft, almost questioning beeps.

[Friend-Rey? Friend-Finn?] BB-8 wondered, sounding dazed, like they were still booting up. [Where is Friend-Poe?] The droid's voice wibbled a little.

"We don't know. We were hoping you could tell us," Rey said. "We're on the _Falcon_ , now, you're safe. Can you...come out all the way?"

BB-8 made an awful _clank_  as they tried to extend their head all the way, but something was clearly stuck.

This made the droid panic. [Friend-Captain Arana! Friend-Captain Arana! Iolo is dead! Is Friend-Master-Poe dead, too?]

BB-8 bumped futilely against Rey, sounding very much like they were frantic. [He couldn't see! And he's very stupid. When he ejected me he was flying straight at the _Finalizer_!]

"Bee—BB-8, shhhh, buddy, just—be still please," Finn said, aware his voice sounded tight because his throat was closing off. This couldn't...BB-8 had to be lying, or wrong, or—but—

"That can’t be true. Poe wouldn't—" he started, and then a hand rested on his shoulder.

"Son... That damage to the _Finalizer_..." Lando offered gently.

"No. I'm telling you no. It's not true, it can't be true, I won't _let_ it be true. He was supposed to be right behind us, he just... He got lost." BB-8, aware that Finn was panicking, nudged him gently.

“We picked up scans of _Black One_ and Dameron’s DNA just off the port side of the Finalizer. It looks very much like he...made a sacrifice.” Lando’s face was grim.

[Lost] BB-8 whistled mournfully, and Finn breathed out a long, shaky breath and looked at Rey.

"It's not true. It can't be true, right?" he practically begged her. “You said he—”

“I can’t feel _anything_ out there, Finn!” Rey snapped, angry again, and then a sob escaped her before she covered her mouth.

In the co-pilot's chair, Lando gently eased the _Falcon_ around and hastily initiated the jump to Takodana—there were a number of visitors on the sensors, and he had no desire to meet any of them. They were done here. 

[Friend-Poe would not have been lost without BB-8] the droid said firmly, as Rey tried to wedge their dome out from where it was stuck inside their body. Having things to fix made her feel better.

There was a crunch and a pop, and Rey fell back from BB-8 and BB-8 fell over. In the jostling, a hologram flickered before them.

It was Poe.

A hologram of Poe. He was...sideways, since BB-8 was on their side and was too damaged and dented to right themselves.

Finn picked up BB-8 in silence and set them in Rey's lap, then gathered Rey into his arms. He looked at Lando, who held up a sympathetic hand to wave them off.

"I got this. We're old friends, the _Falcon_ and me," he said softly.

Finn nodded and left.

He carried Rey and BB-8 to their room and set them down on the bed before crawling in next to Rey and pulling her close. He wasn't sure he wanted to see this. At the same time...it was Poe. Poe who they'd never see again, or hear again, who'd never tease Rey for being bossy or Finn for being so easy to boss. Poe, who was so suddenly gone with nothing left behind but the pictures in their lockets and whatever BB-8 had. Finn buried his face against Rey's neck.

"I don't know if I can do this," he whispered, tears already running down his cheeks. "He can't—he can't be gone."

The holoprojection showed Poe crouching, and he adjusted the camera for a few seconds before sitting back on his heels, icy blue and crystal clear in the holo.

He looked, Rey thought, like a Force ghost.

(Only he _wasn’t dead_! He couldn’t be! She would _know_!)

There was an awkward silence, and the image of Poe worried his lip, waiting, trying to gather his thoughts. He glanced down at something—notes, perhaps—but the awkwardness stretched, and Finn turned up the volume until they could hear him breathing. It was a sign of honesty, of genuine Poe. Anything this awkward, dragging, painful, would never happen if Poe wasn’t allowing himself to be honest.

Finally, a deep sigh.

“If you’re watching this, I’m sorry.”

…

Poe had re-filmed his Last Will and Testament shortly after they found and adopted Sam. It was protocol, it was law, and mostly it was a kindness.

(His mother had never left one, and while there had been no dispute as to whom her possessions would revert, it took Poe a long time to stop being angry that he never got to hear her tell him goodbye. There were very few holos of his mother to remember her by, anyway.)

Before they were legally married, all of Poe’s possessions, except those previously promised to his pilots, to Leia, and a few other close friends, would go to his father on Yavin. He didn’t want to leave Finn and Rey and Sam with nothing.

And they lived dangerous lives, which was why, once he was officially a father, he wasted no time: the trick had been getting time alone, so he waited until they had gone to the training room to spar, and the kid was at school, and though Finn had worried Poe must be actually ill that he didn’t even want to come _watch_ them spar, they had left him alone.

Poe had showered, shaved, fixed his hair, and wore the low-cut soft shirt that Finn liked to see him in. He made sure the locket was visible against his chest, and, as an afterthought, tugged on the jacket, Finn’s jacket, which smelled like Finn.

“Okay, Bee, let’s get this over with.”

…

“This is Commander Poe Dameron, 19-315-728. I am of sound mind and recording this on the ninth month of 36 ABY. First, I promise you that I did everything I could to get back to you. I always will—would—but it’s a dangerous job, and this recording is to…to make sure…of a few things.”

The image of Poe glanced down at his notes.

“Dad, I’m not legally married yet, but I hope you’ll—forgive me for leaving a few things to Rey and Finn. I hope you’ll still welcome them like your own kids, like I know you will—would have—when we got married.”

He swallowed thickly. “This jacket, for example. Sorry, Dad, but I gave it to Finn fair and square. I’d like for Finn to go through my clothes first, and any he doesn’t want should be given to the Resistance or refugees from the war. Oh. This was witnessed by astromech droid designation BB-8, and Major Kalonia will sign off on it. Ah—”

He paused, scrubbing his face. “Um, the whole DNR thing—give me a reasonable chance in case of a coma or something, but nobody wants vegetable me hanging around, so, seriously, pull the plug. Same deal if I’m compromised by the enemy. You pull that plug. I, ah, give Power of Attorney to Rey, if for some reason I’m not of sound mind.”

He trusted Finn’s judgment as much as Rey’s, but Poe didn’t exactly trust Finn not to be an idiot when it came to him.

“Rey, I want you to have BB-8, too. Hells, I hope you two are both around still—Finn and Rey—if—” he said, and then winced. “I should cut that,” he said, but he didn’t edit it. He shuddered, as if the thought of either of them alone was worse than the thought of dying.

Poe shifted, sat cross-legged on the floor. “If there’s a body, I’d like my remains cremated and repatriated to Yavin IV, to go next to mom.” He blinked rapidly. “Gods, this is depressing. Whatever service with whatever prayers Dad wants, or just standard military honors, as General Organa deems appropriate. The aim is to die a hero, but, you know, no more than a 21-gun salute. Something tasteful.”

He was trying to joke, and managed a smile. The point of this was to make them feel better, one last time, after all.

“I’d like what’s left of my savings to be split evenly between Rey and Finn. I know they’ll have to vacate my quarters for the new Commander, but I’d like them to be given some time to go through everything.” He laughed. “Promise you won’t think less of me when you find all the porn, guys. Just kidding. It’s mostly starship porn.”

He was grinning now and speaking easily. “All my military equipment that I haven’t destroyed should go back to the Resistance. If _Black One_ makes it, she should go to Temmin Wexley, or, if he doesn’t want her, whoever the new Commander is, if they can’t get anything better.

He listed trinkets and small belongings to go to his pilots and ground crew and officers he was close to, following his list now closely, and there was a long pause as he went back over it, double-checking.

“Okay. Rey and Finn, you should have my bed, my jewelry, my electronics and music. Dad, you can have your quetarra back, if you promise to play it for Rey and Finn sometime. I have some antique starship models that I want auctioned off to fund the Resistance—should take care of the cost of whatever actual starship I flew into the sun or whatever.” It was almost funny now, though it shouldn’t be. “And, ah, that’s it for the legal stuff. Any possessions recently accrued or that I haven’t mentioned should go to Finn and Rey.”

Finn was right—he couldn't do this. Except, when he tried to get up, to leave, he couldn't leave Rey. She was curled against his side, and his shirt was already wet with tears—hers on his chest, his at his neck where they had trickled down. He hugged her closer when she hiccuped. _I'm here. I'm still here. I have you._

Poe took a deep breath. “Okay. Snap Wexley, you’ve been like a brother to me. Now I’m no longer around, you can be the pretty one. Jess, you’ve been like—a very mean sister to me, and I love you. Keep an eye on Finn for me. Karé Kun and Iolo Arana—thanks for putting up with me all this time. Ditto to Nien Nunb, Bastian, Ziff, and the rest of the gang. To all squadrons: don’t ever let those thugs scare you.”

Another deep breath. “Master Skywalker, take care of Rey and Finn for me. Not that they need it, just, you know, it might be smart to pay it forward for when you’re too old to walk and stuff.” He winked. “General—Leia—thanks for, ah, letting us be surrogates for each other. You’ve been my hero, and I want you to know it was an honor serving under you.”

The Poe in the hologram sniffed and wiped his eyes. “Gods, I hate this. Dad.” He forced himself to laugh. “You know getting my ass killed is the only way I was ever going to stay off that dumb farm, so I have the last laugh.” He pressed his lips together, and lowered his voice. “I know you fought to make the world safe so I wouldn’t have to—but it’s worth it, Papa. Thanks for teaching me that. Finn and Rey will be better kids than I ever was, so, please, let them be there for you. Be there for them.” He switched suddenly to Yavinese. “[I love you, Papa.]”

“And little Sammy.”

Poe laughed, and his eyes were shining with tears. “Sorry this is all you ever get to see of me, little buddy. Love your momma and your daddy, and look after them for me, okay? I’m sorry I won’t get to see you grow up, but I know you’re going to blow them away, kiddo. Always remember that your Papa loved you. More than anything.”  

Poe coughed. “I really hope you never have to watch this. Finn. Rey. I—If you’re watching this, it means I couldn’t make it back to you, and I’m sorry. I want you to know I tried. I love you, and I want you, more than anything in this entire galaxy. Only death could keep me from you. Don’t let—take care of yourselves, please. No matter what happens to me, don’t do anything stupid. You need each other. Sam needs you. You know more than me what it’s like growing up without parents, so please.”

He released a shaky breath and wiped at his eyes. “I’ll see you guys later. Take your time.”

“Okay. This—” he crumpled the flimsi the list was written on, “I’ve filmed a few of these holovids, but this is all new. Sorry if it sounds stupid. No speeches. I know you don’t want all that. I—when I’m done here, filming this, I’m going to go back to the gym and watch you two throw each other around the mats, gonna get all hot and bothered, and—” he laughed, looking away from the camera. “It’s a good day. I want you to remember that. We’ve had some rough ones. But I want you to remember the good ones.”

He looked at peace now. “I know you’ll do better without me than I would without you—and I’m not just saying that. I—just want you to know how happy I am—was—and how grateful that I knew you, and got to love you, for however long. Wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

He smiled softly, staring at the camera, and reached over to pick up his quetarra.

“I thought you might like a song, to listen to, if—” But he shrugged and strummed a few chords, then began finger picking, a rare treat. 

“I was going to sing this at our, ah—” He couldn’t say it; it wasn’t _fair_. “Well—”

“My hands are searching for you  
My arms are outstretched towards you  
I feel you on my fingertips  
My tongue dances behind my lips for you.”

The tune was an old love song, one of Poe’s favorites, though he was singing it a bit faster and with more fancy quetarra bits than it traditionally had, so it wasn’t really quite as sad as it could have been—but it wasn’t happy, either. Not like this, anyway.

“This fire rising through my being  
Burning, I'm not used to seeing you...”

Okay, and there was one repeated line he didn’t want to say—it would not be fair to them like this—so he skipped over it, and sang them his last love song straight at the camera, his fingers not missing a string.

“I can feel you all around me  
Thickening the air I'm breathing  
Holding on to what I'm feeling  
Savoring this heart that's healing.”

They could almost imagine their wedding, if they closed their eyes. The three of them crowned in flowers, Poe’s voice lifted above everyone else’s. Would Finn and Rey have danced together for this song? It was deeply religious, if one allowed for it, and at least while Poe was singing Rey wondered if Love and the Force worked the same way.

“My hands float up above me  
And you whisper you love me  
And I begin to fade  
Into our secret pla—

“Mother of meteors!”

Poe was cut off, so lost in the song he didn’t hear a commotion at the door, and Rey and Finn, watching the holo, heard their own voices and a banging on the door— _“Poe, what are you doing? Come out!”_ —and it felt frustratingly like being interrupted by themselves. _If only they had known!_

In a scramble, Poe reached toward the camera, and a blurry view of his hand and, “Hang on, hang on!” were the last they saw of him.

...

Rey and Finn couldn't do—anything.

Nothing. No mighty Force, no prayer or wish or science could bring back what was lost, and Rey felt her heart break, right there, irreparably. She didn't even try to stifle the sobs that rocked her whole body and made her feel like she might throw up. She burrowed harder against Finn's chest and his heart was beating hummingbird fast, when she could hear it over his own sobs.

Finn hugged her tight, as if holding her close would hold them both together, an armor against what they'd lost. But of course, it couldn't, because nothing could. He reached a blind hand in BB-8’s direction and the droid rocked closer so Finn could drag them into his arms. They stayed like that for a long time, until Rey and Finn had cried themselves to uneasy sleep, and BB-8 settled down to watch over them.

Their friends had their orders—and BB-8 had theirs. Watch over them. Help them. Be there for them, since Friend-Poe could not. Love them, as much as a droid could.

It was their organic partner's last wish—it  had always been, since he'd met Finn and Rey.

…

_I’m alive._

Poe woke, not really expecting to ever wake up again. So…even though he was in a serious amount of pain, alive was a bonus, right?

“Sergeant! I think this is Black Leader!”

“Commander Dameron?” came the response. “Get a fire crew out here, we need him alive!”

Okay, he didn’t recognize any of those voices. _Time to wake up, Dameron. Open your eyes._

Oh, they are open. Blind, remember? You were blind and you used the targeting system to crash your ship into—

_Well, fuck me._

Someone was screaming orders shrilly in High Basic, and now things really began to hurt as the world around him began to wrench and shake. His right side hurt, but he couldn’t even feel most of his left side, which was probably a bad thing. He tried moving all his fingers and toes, but couldn’t get his left hand to respond. Shit shit shit. He tried a breath, only belatedly realizing the air was thin or he had a hole in his lungs, and either way that was bad. The only thing that was telling him he was alive was his heart beginning to pound, and that wasn’t good because it was just going to keep pumping his blood all over his—

Oh. Oh no. That wasn’t blood, he couldn’t possibly be bleeding that fast. That was starship fuel.

“This ship’s gonna go any minute, sir.”

“He is still alive, sir!”  

“But we can’t get him out, he’s wedged in there.”

“Okay, people, step away, we’ll vent the craft. No one say anything about this to—”

And Poe almost would have felt bad for this First Order officer who was actually trying to protect his men if the voice that said, “Belay that order. I need him alive,” hadn’t been the all-too recognizable voice of Kylo Ren.

No, no, no!

How was he even here? Wasn’t he on the planet? 

Poe heard the searing hum of a lightsaber being activated, and then the hull of his precious Black One being cut through like butter, and at some point someone started screaming and it took Poe what felt like several minutes to realize that was _him_ screaming, and only several minutes after that did the _pain_ worth screaming about actually register.

Then something tugged on his body, lifting him up, yanking him out by his vest, and Poe _would_ have fought, wanted to fight, but his body was not cooperating, crippled with pain, and he couldn’t lift anything but one leg, and that was agony. Then he jerked up short, like something was caught. His shoulder screamed, so maybe it was his arm? Part of his flight harness? It was really disorienting to be this blind and in this much pain, and frustrating. Poe needed to know what was happening.

“Sir, the starship fuel is highly unstable—it could go any minute!”

Then Kylo Ren’s lightsaber cut through the rest of his ship, and now pain _absolutely registered_ , exploding from somewhere between his left wrist and left elbow, and Poe howled again, feeling suddenly shaky, faint—was he going into shock?—as Kylo Ren hauled him from the wreckage.

“Get a medical team in here. And jettison that ship. Get the nav computer back online!”

As Poe began to lose consciousness, one thought only obsessed him: _I can’t feel my left hand_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything turns out all right in the end. If it's not all right, it's not the end. 
> 
> But that's the end of The Final Countdown! Please scream at us in the comments, and subscribe to the Series.

**Author's Note:**

> Running List of OCs:
> 
>  **Breha Bey:** Female human, Poe's cousin, of comparable age to Rey and Finn.  
>  **Coni:** Female human Resistance soldier. Likes illegal tackles in Boloball.  
>  **Deeks:** Male human ex-stormtrooper, now pilot for the Resistance, complete dork.  
>  **Jonorai:** Female Twi'lek in charge of the Resistance daycare center.  
>  **"Nana" Dameron:** Female human in her late 80s, Kes'' mother. Suffers selective dementia.  
>  **Nova and Tova:** Female (Nova) and male (Tova) human sibling ex-TIE fighter pilots, now pilots for the Resistance.  
>  **Reist:** Nonbinary human Resistance soldier.  
>  **Sam Dameron:** Finn's clone rescued from a First Order cloning facility, adopted by Finn, Rey, and Poe. Drools a lot.  
>  **Sevens:** Nonbinary human ex-stormtrooper now Resistance soldier. Dating Jessika Pava.  
>  **Dr. Tamo Lan:** Female Ewok doctor of psychology, therapist for ex-stormtroopers.  
>  **Timons:** Female human ex-First Order tech, was on the officer track before defecting. Major PTSD and anxiety.  
>  **Torch:** Male Zabrak Resistance soldier. Finn's second in command.
> 
> ...
> 
> As always, thank you for reading! And if you haven't read the rest of _Stars and Skies_ , we hope you'll check out the series.
> 
> Please consider letting us know what you like or what we can improve on in the Comments. You can also come bother us on Tumblr at [Maeglinthebold](http://maeglinthebold.tumblr.com/) and [A-singer-of-songs](http://a-singer-of-songs.tumblr.com/).
> 
> And a shout-out to the [SWWA](https://starwarswritingalliance.tumblr.com/)!


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